Difference between revisions of "Suez Canal"

Suez Canal <ref name="term_80144" />  

<p> A great artificial channel cutting the isthmus of Suez, and thus forming a waterway between the [[Mediterranean]] and the Red Sea; was planned and undertaken by the French engineer Lesseps, through whose untiring efforts a company was formed and the necessary capital raised; occupied 10 years in the construction (1859-69), and cost some 20 million pounds; from Port Said on the Mediterranean to Suez at the head of the Red Sea the length is about 100 m., a portion of which lies through [[Lakes]] Menzaleh, Ballah, Timsah, and the [[Bitter]] Lakes; as widened and deepened in 1886 it has a minimum depth of 28 ft., and varies from 150 to 300 ft. in width; traffic is facilitated by electric light during the night, and the passage occupies little more than 24 hours; has been neutralised and exempted from blockade, vessels of all nations in peace or war being free to pass through; now the highway to [[India]] and the East, shortening the voyage to India by 7600 m.; three-fourths of the ships passing through are English; an annual toll is drawn of close on three million pounds, the net profit of which falls to be divided amongst the shareholders, of whom since 1875 the British [[Government]] has been one of the largest. </p>

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