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SUEZ CANAL
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See also:SUEZ See also:CANAL . Before the construction of the Suez Canal there was no See also:direct See also:water communication between the Mediterranean and the Red See also:Sea, but at various eras such communication existed by way of the See also:Nile. See also:Trade between See also:Egypt and countries to the See also:east was originally overland to ports See also:south of the Gulf of Suez; the proximity of the roadstead at the See also:head of that gulf to See also:Memphis and the See also:Delta nevertheless marked it as the natural outlet for the Red Sea See also:commerce of See also:Lower Egypt. The fertile See also:Wadi Tumilat extending east of the Nile valley almost to the head of the gulf (which in See also:ancient times reached See also:north to the See also:Bitter Lakes) afforded an easy road between the Nile and the Red Sea, while the digging of a navigable canal connecting the See also:river and the gulf gave the See also:northern route advantages not possessed by the See also:desert routes farther south, e.g. that between See also:Coptos and Kosseir. See also:Aristotle, See also:Strabo and See also:Pliny attribute to the legendary See also:Sesostris (q.v.) the distinction of being the first of the pharaohs to build a canal joining the Nile and the Red Sea. From an inscription on the See also:temple at See also:Karnak it would appearthat such a canal existed in the See also:time of Seti I. (138o B.c.). This canal diverged from the Nile near See also:Bubastis and was carried along the Wadi Tumilat to Heroopolis, near See also:Pithom, a See also:port at the head of the Heroopolite Gulf (the Bitter Lakes of to-See also:day). The channel of this canal is still traceable in parts of the Wadi Tumilat, and its direction was frequently followed by the See also:engineers of the fresh-water canal. Seti's canal appears to have fallen into decay or to have been too small for later requirements, for See also:Pharaoh Necho (609 B.c.) began to build another canal; possibly his See also:chief See also:object was to deepen the channel between the Heroopolite Gulf and the Red Sea, then probably silting up. Necho's canal was not completed—according to See also:Herodotus 120,000 men perished in the undertaking. See also:Darius (520 B.C.) continued the See also:work of Necho, rendering navigable the channel of the Heroopolite Gulf, which had become blocked. Up to this time there appears to have been no connexion between the See also:waters of the Red Sea and those of the Bubastis-Heroopolis canal; vessels coming from the Mediterranean ascended the Pelusiac See also:arm of the Nile to Bubastis and then sailed along the canal to Heroopolis, where their merchandise had to be transferred to the Red Sea See also:ships. See also:Ptolemy Philadelphus (285 B.c.) connected the canal with the waters of the sea, and at the spot where the junction was effected he built the See also:town of See also:Arsinoe. The dwindling of the Pelusiac See also:branch of the Nile rendered this means of communication impossible by the time of See also:Cleopatra (31 B.C.). See also:Trajan (A.D. 98) is said to have repaired the canal, and, as the Pelusiac branch was no longer available for See also:navigation, to have built a new canal between Bubastis and See also:Babylon (Old See also:Cairo), this new canal being known traditionally as Amnis Trajanus or Amnis See also:Augustus. According to H. R. See also: In this neighbourhood was the ancient See also:city of Clysma, to which in 'Amy's time succeeded Kolzum, perhaps an Arabic corruption of Clysma. The exact situation of Clysma is unknown, but Kolzum occupied the site of Suez, the hills north of which are still called Kolzum. After the closing of the canal in the 8th century it does not appear for certain that it was ever restored, although it is asserted that in the See also:year x000 See also:Sultan Hakim rendered it navigable. If so it must speedily have become choked up again. Parts of the canal continued to be filled during the Nile inundations until Mehemet See also:Ali (A.D. 1811) ordered it to be closed; the closing, however, was not completely effected, for in 1861 the cld canal from Bubastis still flowed as far as See also:Kassassin. This part of the canal, after over 2500 years of service, was utilized by the See also:French engineers in See also:building the fresh-water canal from Cairo to Suez in 1861-1863. This canal follows the lines of that of 'Amr (or Trajan).
Maritime Canal Projects.—Apart from water communication between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea by way of the Nile, the project of direct communication by a canal piercing the See also:isthmus of Suez was entertained as early as the 8th century A.D. by See also:Harlan al-Rashid, who is said to have abandoned the See also:scheme, being persuaded that it would be dangerous to See also:lay open the See also:coast of Arabia to the See also:Byzantine See also:navy. After the See also:discovery of the Cape route to See also:India at the See also:close of the 15th century, the Venetians, who had for centuries held the greater part of the trade of the East with See also:Europe via Egypt and the Red Sea, began negotiations with the Egyptians for a canal across the isthmus, but the See also:con-quest of Egypt by the See also:Turks put an end to these designs. In 1671 See also:Leibnitz in his proposals to See also: See also:Bonaparte when in Egypt in 1798 ordered the isthmus to be surveyed as a preliminary to the digging of a canal across it, and the engineer he employed, J. M. Lepere, came to the conclusion that there was a difference in level of 29 ft. between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. This view was combated at the time by See also:Laplace and See also:Fourier on See also:general grounds, and was finally disproved in 1846—1847 as the result of surveys made at the instance of the Societe d'Etudes pour le Canal de Suez. This society was organized in 1846 by Prosper See also:Enfantin, the See also:Saint Simonist, who thirteen years before had visited Egypt in connexion with a scheme for making a canal across the isthmus of Suez, which, like the canal across the isthmus of See also:Panama, was part of the Saint Simonist See also:programme for the regeneration of the See also:world. The See also:expert See also:commission appointed by this society reported by a See also:majority in favour of Paulin Talabot's See also:plan, according to which the canal would have run from Suez to See also:Alexandria by way of Cairo. injure See also:British maritime supremacy, and that the proposal was merely a See also:device for French interference in the East. Although the sultan's See also:confirmation of the concession was not actually granted till 1866, de See also:Lesseps in 1858 opened the subscription lists for his See also:company, the See also:capital of which was 200 million francs in 400,000 shares of 500 francs each. In less than a See also:month 314,494 shares were applied for; of these over 200,000 were subscribed in France and over 96,000 were taken by the See also:Ottoman See also:Empire. From other countries the subscriptions were trifling, and See also:England, See also:Austria and See also:Russia, as well as the See also:United States of See also:America, held entirely aloof. The See also:residue of 85,506 shares' was taken over by the See also:viceroy. On the 25th of See also:April 1859 the work of construction was formally begun, the first spadeful of See also:sand being turned near the site of Port Said, but progress was not very rapid. By the beginning of 1862 the fresh-water canal had reached See also:Lake Timsa, and towards the end of the
(See also:Topography only from L'Isthme et Is Canal de Suez, by G. See also: The concession was to last for 99 years from the date of the opening of the canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, after which, in See also:default of other arrangements, the canal passes into the hands of the See also:Egyptian See also:government. The confirmation of the sultan of See also:Turkey being required, de Lesseps went to See also:Constantinople to secure it, but found himself baffled by British See also:diplomacy; and later in See also:London he was informed by See also:Lord See also:Palmerston that in the See also:opinion of the British government the ;anal was a See also:physical impossibility, that if it were made it wouldsame year a narrow channel had been formed between that lake and the Mediterranean. In 1863 the fresh-water canal was continued to Suez. So far the work had been performed by native labour; the concession of r856 contained a See also:provision that at least four-fifths of the labourers should be Egyptians, and later in the same year Said Pasha undertook to See also:supply labourers as required by the engineers of the canal company, which was to See also:house and feed them and pay them at stipulated rates. Although the See also:wages and the terms of service were better than the men obtained normally, this See also:system of forced labour was strongly disapproved of in England, and the See also:khedive See also:Ismail who succeeded Said on the latter's death in 1863 also considered it as being contrary to the interests of his See also:country. Hence in See also:July the Egyptian See also:foreign See also:minister, Nubar Pasha, was sent to Constantinople with the proposal that the number of labourers furnished to the company should be reduced, and that it should be made to See also:hand back to the Egyptian government the lands that had been granted it by Said in 1856. These propositions were approved by the sultan, and the company was informed that if they were not accepted the See also:works would be stopped by force. Naturally the company objected, and in the end the various matters in dispute were referred to the See also:arbitration of the See also:emperor See also:Napoleon III. By his See also:award, made in July 1864, the company was allowed 38 million francs as an See also:indemnity for the abolition of the corv€e, r6 million francs in respect of its retrocessions of that portion of the fresh-water canal that lay between Wadi, Lake Timsa and Suez (the See also:remainder had already been handed back by agreement), and 30 million francs in respect of the lands which had been granted it by Said. The company was allowed to retain a certain amount of See also:land along the canals, which was necessary for purposes of construction, erection of workshops, &c., and it was put under the obligation of See also:finishing the fresh-water canal between Wadi and 'These formed part of the 176,602 shares which were bought for the sum of 3,976,582 from the khedive by England in 1875 at the instance of Lord See also:Beaconsfield (q.v.). Suez to such dimensions that the See also:depth of water in it would be 21 metres at high Nile and at least r See also:metre at See also:low Nile. The supply of Port Said with water it was allowed to See also:manage by any means it See also:chose; in the first instance it laid a See also:double line of See also:iron piping from Timsa, and it was not till 1885 that the See also:original plan of supplying the town by a branch of the fresh-water canal was carried out. The indemnity, amounting to a See also:total of 84 million francs, was to be paid in instalments spread over 15 years. The abolition of forced labour was probably the salvation of the enterprise, for it meant the introduction of See also:mechanical appliances and of See also:modern See also:engineering methods. The work was divided into four contracts. The first was for the supply of 250,000 cubic metres of See also:concrete blocks for the jetties of Port Said; the second, for the first 6o kilometres of the channel from Port Said, involved the removal of 22 million cubic metres of sand or mud; the third was for, the next length of 13 kilometres, which included the cutting through the high ground at El Gisr; and the See also:fourth and largest was for the portion between Lake Timsa and the Red Sea. The contractors for this last section were See also:Paul See also:Borel and See also:Alexandre Levalley, who ultimately became responsible also for the second or 6o kilometres See also:contract. For the most part the material was soft and therefore readily removed. At some points, how-ever, as at Shaluf and Serapeum, See also:rock was encountered. Much of the channel was formed by means of dredgers. Through Lake Menzala, for instance, native workmen made a shallow channel by scooping out the See also:soil with their hands and throwing it out on each See also:side to See also:form the See also:banks; dredgers were then floated in and completed the excavation to the required depth, the soil being delivered on the other side of the banks through See also:long spouts. At Serapeum, a preliminary shallow channel having been dug out, water was admitted from the fresh-water canal, the level of which is higher than that of the ship canal, and the work was completed by dredgers from a level of about 20 ft. above the sea. At El Gisr, where the soil, composed largely of loose sand, rises 6o ft. above the sea, the contractor, See also:Alphonse Couvreux, employed an excavator of his own See also:design, which was practically a bucket-dredger working in the dry. A long arm projecting downwards at an See also:angle from an See also:engine on the See also:bank carried a number of buckets, mounted on a continuous See also:chain, which scooped up the stuff at the bottom and discharged it into wagons at the See also:top. In 1865 de Lesseps, to show the progress that had been made, entertained over roo delegates from See also:chambers of commerce in different parts of the world, and conducted them over the works. In the following year the company, being in need of See also:money, realized ro million francs by selling to the Egyptian government the See also:estate of El Wadi, which it had See also:purchased from Said, and it also succeeded in arranging that the money due to it under the award of 1864 should be paid off by 1869 instead of 1879. Its See also:financial resources still being insufficient, it obtained in 1867 permission to invite a See also:loan of 'co million francs; but though the issue was offered at a heavy See also:discount it was only fully taken up after the attractions of a lottery scheme had been added to it. Two years later the company got 30 million francs from' the Egyptian government in See also:consideration of abandoning certain See also:special rights and privileges that still belonged to it and of handing over various hospitals, workshops, buildings, &c., which it had established on the isthmus. The government liquidated this See also:debt, not by a money See also:payment, but by agreeing to forego for 25 years the See also:interest on the 176,602 shares it held in the company, which was thus enabled to raise a loan to the amount of the debt. Altogether, up to the end of the year (1869) in which the canal was sufficiently advanced to be opened for See also:traffic, the accounts of the company showed a total See also:expenditure of 432,807,882 francs, though the International Technical Commission in r856 had estimated the cost at only 200 millions for a canal of larger dimensions. The formal opening of the canal was celebrated in November 1869. On the 16th there was an inaugural ceremony at Port Said, and next day 68 vessels of various nationalities, headed by the " Aigle " with the empress See also:Eugenie on See also:board, began thepassage, reaching See also:Ismailia (Lake Timsa) the same day. On the 19th they continued their See also:journey to the Bitter Lakes, and on the loth they arrived at Suez. Immediately afterwards See also:regular traffic began. In 187o the canal was used by nearly 5o0 vessels, but the receipts for the first two years of working were considerably less than the expenses. The company attempted to issue a loan of 20 million francs in 1871, but the response was small, and it was only saved from See also:bankruptcy by a rapid increase in its revenues. The total length of the navigation from Port Said to Suez is roo m. The canal was originally constructed to have a depth of 8 metres with a bottom width of 22 metres, but it soon became evident that its dimensions must be enlarged. Certain improvements in the channel were started in 1876, but a more extensive plan was adopted in 1885 as the result of the inquiries of an international commission which recommended that the depth should be increased first to 81 metres and finally to 9 metres, and that the width should be made on the straight parts a minimum of 65 metres between Port Said and the Bitter Lakes, and of 75 metres between the Bitter Lakes and Suez, increasing on curves to 8o metres. To pay for these works a loan of roo million francs was issued. These widenings greatly improved the facilities for ships travelling in opposite directions to pass each other. In the early days of the canal, except in the Bitter Lakes, vessels could pass each other only at a few See also:crossing places or gares, which had a collective length of less than a mile; but owing to the widenings that have been carried out, passing is now possible at any point over the greater part of the canal, one See also:vessel stopping while the other proceeds on her way. From See also: It fixed the dues at 10 francs per See also:net register ton (See also:English reckoning) with a surtax of 4 francs per ton, which, however, was to be reduced to 3 francs in the See also:case of ships having on board papers showing their net tonnage calculated in the required manner. It also decided that the surtax should be gradually diminished as the traffic increased, until in the year after the net tonnage passing through the canal reached 2,600,000 tons it should be abolished. De Lesseps protested against this arrangement, but on the sultan threatening to enforce it, if necessary by armed intervention, he gave in and brought the new See also:tariff into operation in April 1874. By an arrangement with the canal company, signed in 1876, the British government, . which in 1875 by the See also:purchase of the khedive's shares, had become a large shareholder, undertook negotiations to secure that the successive reductions of the tariff should take effect on fixed See also:dates, the See also:sixth and. last See also:instalment of 50 centimes being removed in January 1884, after which the maximum See also:rate was to be to francs per See also:official net ton.. But before this happened British shipowners had started a vigorous agitation against the rates, which they alleged to be excessive, and had even threatened to construct a second canal. In consequence a See also:meeting was arranged between them and representatives of the canal company in London in November 1883, and it was agreed that in January 1885 the dues should be reduced to 9i francs a ton, that subsequently they should be lowered on a sliding See also:scale as the See also:dividend increased, and that after the dividend reached 25% all the surplus profits should be applied in reducing the rates until they were lowered to 5 francs a ton. Under this arrangement they were fixed at 71 francs per ton at the beginning of 1906. For ships in See also:ballast reduced rates are in force. For passengers the dues remain at 10 francs a head, the figure at which they were originally fixed. By the concessions of 1854 and 1856 the dues were to be the same for all nations, preferential treatment of any kind being forbidden, and the canal and its ports were to be open " comme passages neutres " to every merchant ship without distinction of See also:nationality. The question of its formal neutralization by international agreement was raised in an acute form during the Egyptian crisis of 1881-82, and in See also:August of the latter year a few See also:weeks before the See also:battle of Tel-el-Kebir, navigation upon it was suspended for four days at the instance of See also:Sir See also:Garnet See also:Wolseley, who was in command of the British forces. At the international conference which was then sitting at Constantinople various proposals were put forward to ensure the use of the canal to all nations, and ultimately at Constantinople on the 29th of See also:October 1888 Great See also:Britain, See also:Germany, Austria, See also:Spain, France, See also:Italy, the See also:Netherlands, Russia and Turkey signed the Suez Canal See also:Convention, the purpose of which was to ensure that the canal should " always be See also:free and open, in time of See also:war as in time of See also:peace, to every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of See also:flag. " Great Britain, however, in See also:signing, formulated a See also:reservation that the provisions of the convention should only apply so far as they were compatible with the actual situation, namely the " present transitory and exceptional See also:condition of Egypt, " and so far as they would not fetter the See also:liberty of See also:action of the British government during its occupation of that country. But by the Anglo-French agreement of the 8th of April 1904 Great Britain declared her adherence to the stipulations of the convention, and agreed to their being put in force, except as regards a provision by which the agents in Egypt of the signatory See also:Powers of the convention were to meet once a year to take See also:note of the due See also:execution of the treaty. It was by virtue of this new agreement that the See also:Russian war-ships proceeding to the East in 1904–1905 were enabled to use the canal, although passage was prohibited to See also:Spanish war-ships in 1898 during the war between Spain and the United States. L'Isthme et le Canal de Suez, historique, etat actuel, by J. Charles-Roux (2 vols., See also:Paris 1901), contains reprints of various official documents See also:relating to the canal, with plates, maps and a bibliography extending to 1499 entries. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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