Skip to main content

SUEZ CANAL-CRITICAL ARTERY FOR TRADE

The canal across Egypt's Isthmus of Suez bridging the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea means linking the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. This man-made canal has been an essential vessel for global trade since the mid-19th century. Once the channel is blocked, European ships have to pass a long distance to reach Asia and do trading. The idea of bridging two continents via sea had excited the Egyptian rulers as well as the colonizers. 




Pharaoh Senusret III(1887-1849 BC) built the first canal bridging the Erythraean Sea( today's Red Sea) and the Nile river and opening a waterway to the Mediterranean. Many new emperors tried to build new canals to reduce traffic. Many geologists believe that the coastlines of the Red Sea have moved southwards away from the lakes in Suez. Continuous accumulations of silt made it hard to maintain the water channel. For centuries, Egyptian rulers avoided this waterway until the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 as part of his global campaign to dwindle the British Empire. Napoleon wanted to construct a canal across Suez under his banner(French control). That would benefit Napoleon in two ways. It would be a perfect blow to the British. One, It would provide Bonaparte a quicker and safer path to the Indian Ocean. Two, by opening a new trade route from Europe to Asia and vice-versa. The twin blow out could hurt the British who controlled the existing way around the Cape of Good Hope. But Napoleon's plan wasn't fructified due to a miscalculation in geological study about the territory that prompted Napoleon to terminate the project. 

But the idea of the Suez canal outlived the emperor. In the mid-19th century, Ferdinand De Lesseps, a French diplomat and engineer, received permission from Egypt's Ottoman. In 1858, Universal Suez Ship Canal Company began to collect its resources, and construction work started a year later. Britain continuously opposed the Suez canal project as a new waterway would hurt its interests. British became a key beneficiary from being an adversary when the Egyptian government sold its stake in the canal to London in 1875.



Previously, the Suez Canal was closed for navigation in 1967 due to the Six-Day War between Israel and Arab nations. Before that, the way had been closed for a year during the Suez War of 1956. Why this war? Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's socialist President, nationalized the channel in 1956. On October 29, 1956, the Israeli troops attacked the Egyptian Sinai. Later, the French and British shook a hand with Israel. The motto of the war was to take control of the canal and suppress Abdel Nasser. But the invasion didn't go as planned. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev threatened Israel, Britain, and France with missiles. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, partly upset that the British went to invade without American approval. Also, President Hower was concerned that invasion would play into the hands of the Soviet Union. The US pressurized the British with Economic Sanctions unless they withdrew the troops. By March 1957, the troops were called-off.

                                                                       

Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Egypt's President, launched an ambitious expansion project worth $8.5 billion at the Suez in 2014. The canal generates revenue for Egypt's birched economy. Egyptian government generated $5.61 billion in revenues from the channel in 2020. The analysts expect this would double by the year 2025. About 19000 ships cruised through this channel in the year 2020 carrying 1.2 billion tonnes of cargo.

What wars did in the past was done by a container ship now. M.V. Ever Green got stuck in a dust storm and strong winds on March 23, 2021, and ran around in the channel blocking off traffic. So a delay in reopening the channel will have a huge impact on Egypt's national economy.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

french colonies present day

France borders eight countries. But actually, it borders more than eight countries. And in fact, its longest border isn't even the one with Belgium or the one with Spain. It is the one with Brazil. What is going on here? We know only one version of France that is the l'hexagon. It is also called the La France Metropole. It is the mainland of France. It is the France you probably think of when you think of France in Europe. But there is another France, it is called France d'outre-mer, or the Overseas France. Overseas French accounts for almost 20% of all French land. And a whopping 97% of its ocean territory, nearly 3 million French citizens live here. The Overseas France is peculiar. France d’outre-mer includes far-flung tropical islands, remote archipelagos with penguins, and weird-looking, uninhabited atolls around the world. There is lobster fishing, scientific research, nuclear weapons testing, and military exercises. And the mind-blowing fact is that Overseas France is...
4 comments
Read more

BUTTERFLY EFFECT- HOW SMALL CHANGES DRIVES US TO AN IMMENSE CHANGE?

Have you heard of a term called the butterfly effect? Whenever you solve a math problem, a minor change in substitution might result in a greater error. The same happens in the big picture. It is believed that when a butterfly flutters its wing in Australia, It might create a hurricane in Texas. This beautiful term "Butterfly Effect" was coined by Edward Lorenz. But what if I say that if there isn't the occurrence of WW1, India still would under the British Raj. Which means we might not even be born. Likewise, relate each story which I am going to demonstrate below. From world war 1, to the creation of anime, every single change in our lives in some way is the other related to our huge success.  MISINTERPRETATION OF ROUTE LED TO WW1  The great leader from Austria(Archduke Ferdinand carl Ludwig joseph maria) was transiting in a car with his wife, in front of which there were four cars, furious Hungarians came to attack those cars. But they didn't know Ferdinand is in o...
4 comments
Read more

Never dare to open these 7 doors!!!

Sheri Hooley on Unsplash Doors are meant to be opened. Well! not these doors. They are thought to contain anything from treasures to mummified remains and ancient curses. Some of the most visited places in the world have secret rooms and chambers sealed off by mysterious doorways. People won't talk about what is inside them. And once sealed they have remained closed but what exactly they are protecting us from. In Kerala, India, there is a grand structure known as Padmanabhaswamy temple. It was created in the 6th century and built upon until the 16 century by the kings of the Travancore royal family. The most valuable part of this ornate building is its 6 sealed underground vaults. But one of them remains unknown to this day. The vault sits behind ornately designed solid doors. Five of these doors were able to be pried open and inside they found 22 billion dollars worth of treasure including jewellery and solid gold idols. Vault B also called Bharata Conchal era is the only vault ...
3 comments
Read more