Suez Canal
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The Suez Canal (Arabic: قناة السويس, Qanā al-Suways, French: Le Canal de Suez) is a canal in Egypt. It lies west of the Sinai Peninsula . The canal is 163km long (101 miles) and, at its narrowest point, 300-m-wide (984 ft). It runs between Port Said (Būr Sa'īd) on the Mediterranean Sea, and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea. It was built by a French company. The canal was started in 1859 and finished in 1869.
The canal allows boats to travel from Europe to Asia without having to go all the way around Africa. Before the canal was built, ships had to dock and then goods were carried over land between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
The canal consists of two parts, north and south of the Great Bitter Lake.
The Suez Canal was first built over 2,000 years ago.
In 1859, the Suez Canal was built again, by the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company, and took 10 years to build. The first ship to pass through the canal did so on 17 February 1867; Giuseppe Verdi wrote the famous opera Aida for this ceremony.
The canal made is possible to easily transport goods across the world. The canal also allowed Europeans to travel to East Africa, and this area was soon controlled by European powers.
The success of the canal encouraged the French to start building the Panama Canal.
After the Six Day War in 1967, the canal remained closed until June 5, 1975. A UN peacekeeping force has been stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since 1974, to avoid more wars.
About 15,000 ships pass through the canal each year, which is about 14% of world shipping. Each ship takes up to 16 hours to cross the canal.
