History of the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal opened in 1869 after 10 years of work financed by the French and Egyptian governments.
It was operated by the Egyptian-chartered International Company of the Suez Maritime Canal. The area surrounding the canal remained sovereign Egyptian territory and the only land bridge between Africa and Asia.
It was also the shortest ocean link between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean; a vital route for trading nations, helping European powers exercise control over their colonies.
Egyptians had toiled in the trenches of Suez for an entire decade, and thousands had died during the canal’s construction.
Tales of their suffering had been handed down from one generation to another.
Six years after its official opening, Egypt sold its share to the British government to settle burdensome debts. The English were eager to buy, obtaining 44% of the Canal for less than £4 million.
Following the 1882 invasion and occupation of Egypt, Great Britain took de facto control of the country as a whole, though the 1888 Convention of Constantinople proclaimed the Canal a neutral zone under British protection. The Ottoman Empire agreed to permit international shipping to pass freely through the canal in times of both war and peace.
During the First World War, Britain and France closed the canal to non-Allied shipping. When the German-Ottoman forces tried to storm it in February 1915, London committed 100,000 troops to the defense of Egypt for what remained of the Great War. By 1955, oil accounted for half of the canal’s traffic. Two thirds of Europe’s oil passed through Suez. Arab nationalists never accepted British ownership of the Canal, claiming that it ought to be returned to its rightful owners.