Before the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt, European Ships had to sail around Southern Africa the reach the East. Once the Canal opened, it enabled ships to halve the distance between Europe and Asia.
Location:
The Suez Canal is located about 2 - 3 hours drive from Cairo and close to the City of Ismailia. It is also linked to the Red Sea south and about 2 hours 30 minutes from the Egyptian resort of Port El Sokhna.
History:
Before the 167 Km (140 mile) Suez Canal opened in 1869,the concept wasn’t new. The idea of a canal cutting through the desert had already occurred to the 7th century BC pharaohs Necho II, but an oracle dissuaded him from completing the project. A century later the Persians dug a small canal, but it fell out of us over the centuries.
Work on the Suez Canal began in 1859, under the supervision of Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps. It took 10 years and 25,000 workers to finish and is still one of the world’s greatest feats of engineering. When President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956 in response to the West’s refusal to help France and Israel retaliated by bombing the area. The canal cities suffered further damage during the Arab- Israel wars (1948-1973), when the canal was closed leveled (it has yet to recover). Since the canal reopened in 1975, it has been Egypt’s second largest source of revenue, after tourism.
Recent Developments:
On August 5 2014 by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt,launched The Suez Canal Corridor Area Project in order to encourage international trade on a grand scale.The aim is to increase the role of the Suez Canal region and to develop the three canal cities: Suez, Ismaïlia, and Port Said.
This project will include the building a new city to be named Ismallyah City with an industrial zone, fish farms, completing the technology valley, building 7 new tunnels between Sinai and Ismaïlia & Port Said, Digging will commence in order to build a new canal parallel to the Suez Canal increase capacity by allowing ships to sail into both directions at the same time. This will enhance Egypt as an important trading centre globally and is being called ‘The Egyptian Dream’.