Hello & welcome to this weekend’s GK nugget. It’s
been a hectic & chaotic 12 days since the demonetization announcement was
made by the PM on 8th Nov. All our conversations, emails & especially our WhatsApp messages
have revolved around the facts, some rumours & a lot of jokes about the
currency ban. This weekend’s nugget is taking us away from all of that, on a
journey through sea faring history.
On 17th November 1869, the Mediterranean &
Red Seas were officially united by the opening of the Suez Canal, a move that
changed maritime history for ever.
Built by French diplomat and engineer, Ferdinand de
Lesseps, the 101-mile long waterway took 15 years to be completed, amidst
political disputes, labour shortages and even a cholera outbreak.
Construction began in 1861 using manual labour but picked
up speed after 1863 when machinery was brought in to increase the pace of
construction. 75 million cubic meters of sand was excavated for its
construction.
The Suez Canal shortens the Europe-Asia trade route by
9,600 kilometres.
French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi wanted to
build a 90-foot-tall statue of a woman clothed in Egyptian peasant robes and
holding a massive torch, which would also serve as a lighthouse to guide ships
into the Suez Canal, but the idea did not materialise. Instead, in 1886
Bartholdi finally unveiled a completed version in New York Harbour which is now
called the Statue of Liberty.
During his conquest of Egypt in 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte
was the first to consider constructing the Suez Canal, but his team of
surveyors made some miscalculations and declared that the Red Sea was 30 feet
higher than the Mediterranean. Meaning, any attempt to create a canal in that
area would result in horrific flooding across the Nile Delta. So Napoleon
dismissed the project.
It’s almost ironic then that the Suez Canal is the world’s
longest canal without any locks, since the water levels in the Mediterranean
& Red Seas are almost the same.
The Suez Canal is one of the world's most significant
waterways as it supports 8% of the world's shipping traffic and almost 50 ships
pass through the canal daily.
In August 2015, Egypt (which manages the Suez Canal)
launched a major expansion of the Canal. Built at a cost of $8.5 billion (the
original canal cost $100 million in 1869), the Canal expansion brings 72km of
new channel and bypasses, increases the number of ships passing through it to 97
a day by 2023 (up from 49) & will make it an 11-hour southbound transit for
ships (down from 18).
So on your next trip to Egypt do visit the Suez Canal,
one of the busiest waterways in the world.
That’s all on this weekend’s GK nugget.