The Suez Canal was one of the first artificial canals built in the world to be used for trade and travel. This essay will show us the history, the canal today and future plans. Construction of the canal dates back to 1854, when Egyptian Viceroy Said Pasha was persuaded by a French diplomat and engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps, to support the project. construction of a canal. The idea was to build a canal crossing 160 km of Egyptian desert and connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. A few years later, in 1858, a new company was formed known as the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company, owned by both Egyptians and French. The company obtained permission to begin construction in April 1859 and completed it on November 17, 1869. However, the main reason for creating the canal was to shorten trade routes. It took them 10 years to complete the canal which cost $100. Millions of dollars. Additionally, the unique geographic location of the canal makes it important to the world and to Egypt itself. Since it is considered the shortest waterway between east and west, which saves time and fuel consumption, thereby minimizing the cost of travel. According to eoearth.org, fifty ships pass through the canal every day, which represents 8% of global maritime traffic. However, The Channel's revenues declined by 7.4% to $375.3 million in February 2013, compared to $381.4 million a year earlier (ahram.org, 2013). The idea of ​​building a canal dates back to well before this century for various proposals. In modern times, Napoleon Bonaparte was the first to attempt to build the canal to destroy English trade. In 1799, the project was started by Charles Le Père but an arithmetic error showed that the Red Sea was ten meters higher than the Mediterranean...... middle of paper ......tion in the world that changed the transport, people's lives as well as the Egyptian economy. Works cited Briney, A. (nd). The Suez Canal connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Geography on About.com. Accessed November 8, 2013, from http://geography.about.com/od/specialplacesofinterest Milner, L. (March 3, 2011). The Suez Crisis. BBC News. Accessed November 8, 2013 at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/suez_01Saundry, P. and Lowitz, M. (June 24, 2008). Suez Canal, Egypt. Suez Canal, Egypt. Accessed November 8, 2013 from http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/156309/Suez Canal Authority. (nd). Suez Canal Authority. Accessed November 8, 2013 at http://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/sc.aspx?show=8The Suez Canal: history, figures, facts. (nd). RIA Novosti. Accessed November 8, 2013 from http://en.ria.ru/infographics/20091113/156823327