The Gulf of Suez, one of the two large gulfs of the Red Sea, stretches from the Strait of Jubal in the south to the city of Suez in the north, connecting to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.
Even in the most ancient times people tried to connect the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. But this bold and large-scale project was realized only in the second half of the XIX century.
Between Africa and Asia
The Gulf of Suez separates the Sinai Peninsula from Africa, the Suez Canal opens the shortest route from Europe to Asia and East Africa.
The Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world. This waterway starts in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, passes through the Suez Canal and enters the Indian Ocean, to the countries of Asia and Africa. The canal runs between the dry and sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula and the Eastern Desert, its largest ports being Port Said and Suez.
The Red Sea Gulf of Suez is elongated and is one of three arms formed by the movement of the earth’s crust 20 million years ago when the Arabian Peninsula broke away from Africa. The other arms are the Red Sea itself and the Gulf of Aqaba to the east.
The climate here is very hot, there are no permanent rivers, and only dry wadi beds flow into the Gulf, bringing not a drop of water for years. Therefore, evaporation in the gulf is very high, and salinity is higher than in many other marine areas of the world ocean. On the other hand, all year round the water in the bay is very warm and unusually clear (visibility reaches 200 meters), which created conditions for the development of coral reefs.
History
Throughout the history of human civilization, the Gulf of Suez was the most important center of world trade, for the possession of which the greatest empires of antiquity fought.
People settled the coast of the Gulf as far back as 30000 years ago, and 6000 years ago the great Egyptian culture was born here. A thousand years ago the whole territory was occupied by Arab tribes. For a while the Turks, who created the Ottoman Empire, established a foothold here, but then left, leaving these lands to the Arabs.
Attempts to build a canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea were made in ancient times. Around 1300 BC, during the reigns of Pharaohs Seti I and Ramses II, the Pharaonic Canal was built in ancient Egypt to connect the Nile River and the Red Sea.
As Ancient Egypt declined, the canal was destroyed. In the 3rd century BC, under the Egyptian King Ptolemy II, the canal was restored, and during the time of Ancient Rome it was called “Trajan’s River” – in honor of the Roman Emperor.
In 642 the Arabs conquered Egypt and hurried to restore the strategically important canal, calling it “Khalij Amir El-Muminin”, or the canal of the Lord of the Faithful. However, in 776, the Arabs themselves dammed it up to channel trade through the main areas of the Arab Caliphate. There were plans to restore the canal at the end of the XV century by Venetians, in the middle of the XVI century under the Turks, in the Ottoman Empire, as well as at the end of the XVIII century during the Egyptian expedition of French troops under the command of Napoleon, but these plans were not destined to come true.
It was possible to build the canal only in the second half of the XIX century.
In 1854, the French diplomat and businessman Ferdinand de Lesseps managed – by making incredible efforts – to obtain from the Egyptian ruler Said Pasha a concession to build a canal between the Gulf of Suez of the Red Sea and the Pelusian Gulf of the Mediterranean Sea for a period of 99 years from the date of the beginning of the canal. At the end of this term, the canal was to become the property of Egypt.
The construction of the canal was started on April 25, 1859. A gigantic work was done. The construction of the canal was facilitated by the dried up lakes that were in its path, they were below sea level, which facilitated the laying of the canal. Despite this, a colossal amount of soil had to be excavated. The work was carried out manually, under the rays of the sun, in the waterless desert. Egyptian fellahs, who were brought here by the local authorities at the rate of 60 thousand people a month, while the population of Egypt was only 4 million people, worked on the construction. Not surprisingly, about 120 thousand people died from hard labor and epidemics.
Lesseps failed to meet the six-year deadline, as stipulated by the contract: the work took 11 years.
The inauguration of the Suez Canal took place on November 17, 1869. For this event, as well as for the opening of the new theater in Cairo, the Italian composer J. Verdi wrote the opera “Aida” at the request of the Egyptian Khedive.
The initial depth of the canal fairway was 7.94 meters and its width was 21 meters.
In 1875, under pressure from international debts, the Egyptian government was forced to cede its share in the canal to the British. Egypt lost control of the canal and its profits. England became the owner of the canal. During World Wars I and II, Britain controlled all shipping on the canal. Egyptian ships paid the same fees for passage through the canal as foreign ships and could not use the canal for domestic communications.
On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal. Britain, France, and the United States first tried to get the canal “internationalized.” When these attempts failed, British, French, and Israeli troops launched the so-called Suez War of 1956, which lasted a week. The canal was partially destroyed but later rebuilt by Egypt with Allied help.
After the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli War, the canal was closed again. This was repeated again during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. After the end of the war, the canal had to be demined for a long time.
Egypt constantly carries out works on deepening of the canal. Now the canal allows the passage of loaded ships with a draft of up to 20.1 meters, displacement of up to 240,000 tons, height of up to 68 meters and width of up to 77.5 meters.
The Suez Canal has only one fairway, but to facilitate the passage of ships through it there are several sections where ships diverge. Currently, about 8% of the world’s maritime traffic passes through the canal. On an average day, 48 ships pass through the canal and traffic is one-way.
The operation of the Suez Canal is Egypt’s second most important source of income after tourism.
In the XX century, small coastal villages of fishermen turned into centers of prosperous resorts, where millions of tourists poured in, who appreciated the beauty and climate of the Gulf of Suez.
Tourism is not the only wealth of the Gulf: at its entrance, in the Gemsa area on the western shore, there are rich deposits of oil and natural gas.
In the middle of the Gulf of Suez and along the Isthmus of Suez runs the conventional border between Africa and Asia.
In the northern part of the Gulf is the Egyptian city of Suez, where the navigable Suez Canal begins, linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean.
The Suez Canal (Arabic for “Qana al-Suwais”) has greatly shortened the route for ships that previously had to circumnavigate all of Africa to reach the Indian Ocean. The canal crosses the Isthmus of Suez at its lowest and narrowest part, passing several lakes along the way.
The main difference between the Suez Canal and others like it is that the terrain is flat and there are no locks on the canal, and seawater moves freely through it.
The major Egyptian cities along the canal route are Port Said (with Port Fouad) on the Mediterranean Sea, Ismailia roughly in the middle, and Suez (with Port Tawfik) on the Red Sea.
Suez Canal attractions include the Ahmed Hamdi Road Tunnel crossing under the canal bed, the cable-stayed Shohada 25 January Road Bridge, a unique power transmission line with masts 221 meters high, and the El Ferdan Railway Bridge.
General Information
Gulf of Suez
- Location: northwestern section of the Red Sea, between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula (Asia).
- Basin: Indian Ocean.
- Countries facing the Gulf: Arab Republic of Egypt.
- Language: Arabic.
- Currency: Egyptian pound.
- Most important port: Suez, population 478,553.
- Length: 314 km.
- Maximum width: 32 km.
- Average depth: 40 m.
- Maximum depth: 70 m.
- Tides: semi-diurnal, height: 1.8 m.
- Salinity: 40-42%o.
- Average annual water temperature: up to 30°C.
- Difference in water level during currents: from 0.5 m to 1 m.
Suez Canal
- Location: between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula (Asia).
- Basins: Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
- Most important ports (population, cargo turnover): Suez (300 million tons), Port Said (603,787 people 1 million tons), Ismailia (750,000 people), Port Fouad (560,000 people).
- The largest lakes: Big Bitter Lake, Little Bitter Lake, Manzala, Timsah (Crocodile Lake), Bala.
- Length: 193.25 km.
- Depth: 24 m.
- Width: 205 m.
- Approach sections: northern – 22 km, canal directly – 162.25 km. southern – 9 km.
- Time of passage through the canal: about 14 hours.
- Speed of vessels depending on tonnage and category: 11-16 km/h.
Economy
- Mineral resources (Gulf of Suez): oil and natural gas.
- Exploitation of kakal: $ 5.2 billion.
- Service sector: tourism, transportation, trade.
Climate and weather
- Subtropical Mediterranean.
- Average temperature in January: +20°С.
- Average temperature in July: +30°С.
- Average annual precipitation: 400-500 mm.
- Average annual water temperature: +25°C.
Attractions
- Big Bitter Lake and Little Bitter Lake.
- Lake-lagoon Manzala.
- Suez City: Port Tawfik.
- City of Port Said: Port Fouad, National Museum, Military Museum, Museum of Modern Art of Egypt.
- City of Ismailia: headquarters of the Suez Canal Authority.
- Ahmed Hamdi Road Tunnel.
- Shohada 25 January highway bridge.
- Power transmission line.
- El Ferdan railroad bridge.
- Coral reefs of the Gulf of Suez.
Fun Facts
- During the construction of the modern Suez Canal, part of the old channel of the Pharaohs Canal was used to build the freshwater Ismailia Canal.
- In the XVIII-XIX centuries. the idea of building a canal through the Isthmus of Suez was considered impossible for political and technical reasons. French engineer Jacques Leper, who worked on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte, argued that the water level in the Mediterranean Sea is lower by 9.9 meters than in the Red Sea, and the construction of large locks in those days did not know how to build. In addition, Emperor Napoleon had already abandoned plans to conquer Egypt.
- Since there are no locks on the Suez Canal, the sea water in it north of the Great Bitter Lake flows northward in winter and southward in summer.
- In the 38-kilometer section from Port Said to El Kantara, the canal route runs through Lake Manzala, which is actually a shallow lagoon of the Mediterranean Sea.
- Design work in the canal area was carried out by French and Italian specialists, and the canal was built by the “General Company of the Suez Canal”, owned by Lesseps, although legally it was considered Egyptian. The Egyptian government got 44% of shares, France – 53%, other participants – 3%.
- In 1863, the Egyptian khedive (ruler) Ismail Pasha forbade the use of forced labor in the construction of the Suez Canal. But Ferdinand de Lesseps managed to get Egypt to pay a huge 84 million francs in penalties to compensate for the costs.
- The Suez Canal significantly reduced the duration of sea voyages: if the route from Marseille (France) to Bombay (India) around Africa was 16.7 thousand kilometers, then through the Suez Canal was 7.3 thousand kilometers, and from Odessa to Vladivostok – instead of 25.6 thousand kilometers, only 14.8 thousand kilometers.
- During the construction of the Suez Canal, 1600 camels were used to deliver water to the workers until a freshwater canal from the Nile was built in 1863.
