The Suez Canal
On 17 November 1869, the Suez Canal was inaugurated in the presence of Empress Eugenie of France and Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. Ten years earlier, Ferdinand de Lesseps had begun its construction with the support of Napoleon III and the viceroy of Egypt. Egypt granted operating rights for 99 years and the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company managed the finances and supervised the construction work. The undertaking was enormous and disrupted by the British government which refused to accept France's domination in the region. More than 100,000 Egyptian labourers died in constructing a 166km long navigable waterway between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. This gigantic operation was however a financial success and went on to radically transform world maritime transport.
