Facts You Didn't Know About The Suez Canal

Officially opened in November 1869, the Suez Canal is one of the most heavily used shipping routes in the world, witnessing the passage of thousands of vessels each year. The canal is 120 miles long and separates Asia from the African continent and offers a shortest maritime route between Europe and the regions that share a border with the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean.

Located in Egypt, it connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez, a northern branch of the Red Sea and has recently been the topic of conversation due to a cargo ship called Evergreen getting suck. Reports indicate the accident was caused by human error. Ever Given is the official name for the ship, but the ship is operated by a Taiwanese company called Evergreen Marine.

Here’s some interesting things you probably didn’t know about the Suez Canal…

It’s Man-Made.

That’s right, the construction of the Suez Canal officially began on April 25, 1859. It was estimated that a total of 2,613 million cubic feet of earth- 600 million on land and 2,013 million through dredging- would have to be moved for building the canal. Furthermore, the total original cost of the project was estimated at 200 million francs.

Initially, the construction of the canal was carried out by forced labourers, reports claim thousands of people were forcefully assigned to dig the canal using picks and shovels until the use of forced labour was banned in 1863.

The Statue of Liberty was originally intended for the Suez Canal.

Just before its completion the French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi tried to convince Ferdinand de Lesseps and the Egyptian government to let him build a sculpture called “Egypt Bringing Light to Asia” at the Mediterranean entrance. Inspired by the ancient Colossus of Rhodes, Bartholdi envisioned a 90-foot-tall statue of a woman clothed in Egyptian peasant robes and holding a massive torch, which would also serve as a lighthouse to guide ships into the canal. The project never materialized, but Bartholdi continued shopping the idea for his statue, and in 1886 he finally unveiled a completed version in New York Harbor. Officially called “Liberty Enlightening the World,” the monument has since become better known as the Statue of Liberty.

It’s not the first time a blockage has occurred.

The Suez Canal was shut down by the Egyptian government and blocked on each side by scuttled ships and mines. The blockage started in 1967 and was due to conflict between Egypt and Israel. Astonishingly, 15 international shipping vessels were moored at the canal’s midpoint and remained stranded for eight years!

In 1975 the conflict was eventually resolved and out of the 15 stranded vessels, only 2 remained seaworthy enough to power themselves.

Napoleon Bonaparte Almost Built It.

The colourful French emperor conquered Egypt in 1798 and shortly after sent his team of surveyors to investigate the undertaking of building a canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Unfortunately Napoleon’s people incorrectly determined that the Red Sea was at least 30 feet higher than the Mediterranean. Therefore creating a canal could result in catastrophic flooding across the Nile Delta. Further investigations in 1847 revealed that it was in fact possible and construction plans begun.

Vintage engraving of Napoleon Bonaparte before the Sphinx, based on the painting by J L Gerome. Getty Images

Major expansion in 2015.

Continual advancements in maritime technology and increased demand for worldwide shipping meant bigger vessels and more of them, so in August 2014 Egypt completed a major expansion of the Suez Canal that saw the deepening of the parts of the canal and the introduction of a second shipping lane along part of the main waterway which totalled 35 km in length.