The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red
seas, was inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended
by French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.
In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul
to Cairo, secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor
of Egypt to build a canal 100 miles across the Isthmus of
Suez.
An international team of engineers drew up a construction
plan, and in 1856 the Suez Canal Company was formed and
granted the right to operate the canal for 99 years after
completion of the work.
Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was
done by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced
laborers.
Later, European workers with dredgers and steam shovels
arrived. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed
construction, and the Suez Canal was not completed until
1869–four years behind schedule.
On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to
navigation. Ferdinand de Lesseps would later attempt,
unsuccessfully, to build a canal across the Isthmus of
Panama.
Empress Eugénie (1826 – 1920)
