It is historically recorded that Egypt was the first country to dig a man-made canal across its lands to connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red sea via the River Nile and its branches, and the first who dug it was Senausert III, Pharaoh of Egypt (1874 B.C.)
This canal was abandoned to silting and reopened several times as follows:
The Suez Canal is actually the first canal directly linking the Mediterranean sea to the Red sea. It was opened for international navigation on 17 November 1869.
Egypt nationalized its canal on 26 July 1956
The geographical position of the Suez Canal makes it the shortest route between East and West as compared to the “Cape of Good Hope”. The Canal route achieves a saving in distance between the ports north and south the Canal, the matter that is translated into other savings in time.
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