What is Suez Canal?
[[File:SuezCanal-EO.JPG|right|thumb|[[Satellite (artificial)|Satellite]] view of the Suez Canal]] The '''Suez Canal''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: قناة السويس, ''Qanā al-Suways'', [[French language|French]]: ''Le Canal de Suez'') is a [[canal]] in [[Egypt]]. It lies west of the [[Sinai Peninsula]]. The canal is 163 km long (101 miles) and, at its narrowest point, 200 m wide (656 ft). It runs between [[Port Said]] (''Būr Sa'īd'') on the [[Mediterranean Sea]], and [[Suez]] (''al-Suways'') on the [[Red Sea]]. It was built by a [[France|French]] [[company]]. The canal was started in [[1859]] and finished in [[1869]]. The canal allows ships to travel between [[Europe]] and [[Asia]] without having to go the way around [[Africa]]. This saves time and fuel. It was built for Europeans to go to and from the [[Indian Ocean]]. == History == In 1859, Egyptian workers and European engineers, working for [[Ferdinand de Lesseps]] of the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company, began digging under a contract with the Khedive of Ottoman Egypt. It took ten years to build. The first ship passed through the canal 17 November, 1869; [[Giuseppe Verdi]] wrote the famous opera [[Aida]] for this ceremony. The canal made it possible to easily transport goods across the world. The canal also allowed Europeans to travel to [[East Africa]], and soon to take control of it. The British tried to stop the canal, fearing that it would increase French power in the Indian Ocean. Later, they bought shares in the company. The success of the Suez Canal encouraged the French to try to build the [[Panama Canal]]. But they did not finish it. The Panama Canal was finished later. The canal was a central point during the [[Six Day War]] in 1967. A UN peacekeeping force has been stationed in the [[Sinai Peninsula]] since 1974, to avoid more wars. The canal reopened in 1975. About 15,000 ships pass through the canal each year, which is about 14% of world shipping. Each ship takes up to 16 hours to cross the canal. In 2015 a central part of the canal was expa