Suez Canal
The sea-level canal that joined the Mediterranean to the Red Sea in 1869 and cut thousands of kilometers from Europe-Asia voyages.
Overview
Built 1859 to 1869 under French direction with Egyptian labor and capital, the 193 kilometer channel has no locks. Britain bought Egypt's shares in 1875 and occupied the country in 1882. Nasser nationalized the canal in 1956, triggering invasion by Britain, France and Israel and a forced withdrawal under American pressure. Closures in 1956 and 1967 to 1975 rerouted world trade around the Cape. Today roughly a tenth of seaborne trade and tens of thousands of ships transit yearly, paying tolls that fund Egypt's budget. The 2021 grounding of the Ever Given blocked the lane for six days, a masterclass in single-point fragility.
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