Assalamualaikum, and welcome back to Orange Shots.
The Suez Canal is one of today's busiest waterways.
It's where hundreds of ships pass through
from the Mediterranean Sea towards the Red Sea, and vice versa.
The Suez Canal is the reason why
vessels don't have to make it around Cape Town,
they save thousands in mileage, thousands in fuel,
and most importantly, they save lots of time.
The most interesting part is that the Suez Canal is man-made.
It was built manually.
So, the question that arises next is:
How is such a large canal one
which so many large vessels use to pass through,
be man-made?
We'll talk about exactly this in today's video.
So, let's start.
Before the Suez Canal existed,
vessels would have to make their way around Cape Town (Africa)
towards, India, towards Singapore, then China.
So the idea of a new passage to help cut trips short sounded enticing.
The idea of building the Suez Canal
was first thought of by Napoleon Bonaparte,
and when he had surveys conducted, he found out that
the water level of the Red Sea
was 10 meters higher than that of the Meditteranean Sea.
Today, we use locks,
which are found in the Panama Canal, the Keil Canal,
and many other canals in the world.
You see them at different ports,
but technology wasn't very advanced back then.
And when they looked at the results of those surveys,
the idea of building locks obviously didn't come to them,
and building a canal connecting the Red Sea
to the Mediterranean Sea seemed impossible to them.
But before discussing Napoleon's ventures, let me tell you that
this wasn't the first time where
where man tried to find ways to
connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
Before this, attempts were already made in Ancient Egypt,
but the canal that was dug up back then
didn't exactly connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
In fact, it connected the north-most part of the Red Sea
to the River Nile,
with it connecting to the Mediterranean Sea.
With time, the canal became dilapidated.
This same canal concept was then thought up during the Ottoman Empire,
but the canal wasn't built where the Suez Canal is located now.
That canal connected the northern part of the Red Sea
with Cairo.
But as time went by, that canal also became dilapidated.
And as sea levels gradually lowered (the Red sea included),
with its saltwater flowing towards the Great Bitter Lake and Small Bitter Lake,
the canal was no longer functional after the Red Sea levels lowered.
Now, this was the third attempt,
i.e., Napoleon's attempt.
However, he didn't think the plan would follow through.
This concept resurfaced in the 1850s.
A French diplomat by the name of Ferdinand
who was on good terms with Said Pasha,
convinced him into giving him the grant to build a canal
that would connect the Red Sea to the Meditteranean.
allowing vessels to pass through.
Convinced him that he'd (Pasha) be able to obtain taxes from it.
Said Pasha found himself agreeing with Ferdinand's ideas.
Ferdinand then gathered a group of experts,
that carried out different surveys
and in December 1856, revealed their first plans of the canal.
They also found out that
the sea level of the Red Sea was equal to that of the Mediterranean,
which meant that a canal could, in fact, be dug up,
connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
Upon Said Pasha's approval, a company was established
called the Suez Canal Company,
and the Suez Canal Company then began selling its shares.
The construction of the canal began in 1859.
It was where Port Said is present now.
The excavation, according to that time, was through forced labour.
Workers were forced into digging up the canal.
No such heavy machinery was used to carry out the excavations.
The workers had to use shovels and such for digging.
An estimated 1.5 million people worked on the project.
We all know what the French and British did back then, especially the French.
There aren't any proper records
but according to reliable sources,
approximately, 30,000 workers would work at the site.
Canal excavation wasn't easy,
it obviously took a heavy toll on the workers.
Those of you who have seen Egypt know that place is a desert.
Both the summers and winters there extreme.
Many died due to excess labour and harsh conditions.
Disease outbreaks also took many lives,
primarily Cholera.
This carried on until 1864,
the canal was set to be completed opened publicly by 1865
but 1865 came around and the canal still wasn't completed.
That's when the French intervened, saying heavy machinery would speed things up.
European workers with dredgers and steam shovels arrived,
digging soil up, throwing it aside.
That's when the process was sped up.
On November 15, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation.
A temporary Church and a Mosque were also built there.
This was because the company building the canal was primarily Christian
and the Mosque was also built because it was in Egypt.
Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, formally opened the Suez Canal.
The ceremony was also attended by French Empress Eugénie.
Two days later, on 17 November 1869, the Suez Canal was open officially.
It wasn't as deep and wide as it is today.
The depth of the Suez Canal was around 7.6 meters then.
Its width at the bottom was 27 meters
and towards the top/surface, it was 17-19 meters.
Another fact I want you to know is that
when the Suez Canal was being built
it was agreed upon that
75% of its returns would go to the Suez Canal Company.
The remaining 15% would go to Egypt,
and the remaining 10% would go to the shareholders
holding the Suez Canal Company shares.
The first year after it was built, around 500 vessels passed through
but it was becoming obvious that more space would be needed.
An expansion was carried out between 1874 to 1876,
that was when the British were attempting to invade Egypt.
Anyhow, the story that comes after this is quite interesting
the history of the Suez Canal doesn't end here,
it's a very long history.
After this came the Suez Canal crisis,
Egypt's war against Israel,
the British war, the French war,
that's a long story.
If you'd like to know more about this,
and about the fact that the Suez Canal, despite being in Egypt
never belonged to Egypt,
and also the fact that despite benefitting Egypt,
the canal also caused trouble for the country.
If you want to know all of that,
tell me in the comments, I'll be very happy to tell you the entire story.
If you enjoyed today's video,
gained some knowledge in any way,
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Take very good care of yourselves.
Remember me in your prayers.
With tons of love to my Orange Shots family,
and to-be Orange Shots family,
this is me Zahid Nisar,
you're watching Orange Shots, and until my next video,
ALLAH Hafiz.