What?: A man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Where?: The eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea connecting the Mediterranean sea to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean through the Egyptian desert.
When?: 1869
How?: British and French businessmen bought the right to dig the canal from the Egyptian leader.
Why?: To shorten the travel time between Europe and Asia.
Who?: Built (paid for and designed) by Great Britain and France (A French entrepreneur named Ferdniand de Lesseps organized a company to build the Suez Canal), dug by Egyptian laborers it is later nationalized by the Egyptian President Nasser in 1956
Importance: By shortening the time it took to travel between Asia and Europe the speed of trade and commerce was greatly increased.
Effect:
1) Trade and profits for the European businesses increased greatly.
2) Egypt and the canal become crucial strategic locations to control
3) Britain controls Egypt as a protectorate and makes great profits off of Egypt for close to 100 years.
Related Terms:1) Nationalization 2) Strategic 3) Egypt, 4) Trade Route, 5) Protectorate