The opening of the Suez Canal

The canal across the Isthmus of Suez, which the pharaohs and Napoleon had already considered, is built by the company of the Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps under a concession from the Egyptian pasha Said; from 1859 tens of thousands of conscripted fellahin dig the earth, later replaced by dredgers. On 17 November 1869 at Port Said the empress Eugénie opens the 164-kilometre canal; for the festivities Verdi is commissioned to write Aida, but it will be ready only two years later. The way from London to Bombay shrinks from twenty thousand kilometres to twelve, and steamships finally prevail over sail. The construction ruins Egypt: in 1875 the khedive sells his shares to Britain, and in 1882 British troops occupy the country—"to guard the canal". For the Jews of East and West the canal changes distances: Baghdad, Aden, Bombay and the Land of Israel find themselves on one sea route with Marseille and London.