Information
On The Suez Canal 
Construction of the Suez Canal began during the rule of Muhammad Said (1854-63) with the concession being given to Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1854. It was built mainly with forced labour that was supplied by the Viceroy of the time. The Canal was completed in 1869 and the concession was then given to France. It takes about 15 hours to pass through the Canal's 105 miles (169kms) length, without locks, and it can take ocean-going vessels of up to a draft of 53ft. (16.2m.). The Canal's cost doubled from the original estimate of US$41,860,000. Due to the debts incurred in its construction and through other massive projects during Ismail Pasha's reign (1863-79), he was forced to sell his shares in the Suez Canal Company to Britain (1875). The 'Convention of Constantinople' (1888) gave the freedom of passage to ships of all nations. The Canal was nationalised by Egypt (Suez Crisis, 26th. July, 1956) and is now owned and operated by the country. The major importance of the Canal is that it shortened the sailing distance between Europe and the Far East e.g. London to Bombay is about 12,400 miles (20,000 kms.) around the Cape of Good Hope but is 7,270 miles (11,700 kms.) through the Canal. In the past a major part of the shipping was carrying petroleum from the Persian Gulf. This has declined since the opening of the Suez-Mediterranean oil pipeline (1975) and with the advent of supertankers which are too large to pass along the Canal.