When Was Suez Canal Constructed?

The Suez Canal which exists today came into being on the 17th of November 1869. It had taken 11 years and the lives of over 125,000 Egyptians to achieve this feat of engineering. There is evidence that the canal did exist earlier in history, in the time of the pharaohs 4000 years ago. The Persian King Darius is attributed with having completely constructed a Canal in the same location as it exists today. It existed in various forms of disrepair till the Caliphate of Al-Mansur when it was considered no longer necessary.

Vicomte Ferdinand Marie De Lesseps in 1854 managed to convince the then Viceroy of Egypt "Said Pasha" of the benefits of a Canal. The work on the Canal was started by the Suez Canal Company, expressly formed for this purpose, on the 17th of November 1869. It took twice the original sum envisaged or nearly a hundred million dollars to complete the project.

19th century

19thcentury