It's done now, but for a hot minute the Suez Canal was the talk of the internet. And there were some pretty great content. And images.
Though all that was fun, it also seems to be a perfect time to go through some of the history of the canal, an incredibly important cog in the machine of international trade.
The east (India, China, Indonesia) and west (historically Europe, now also North America) have been connected by trade for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Marco Polo was the most prominent and remembered westerner to travel back and forth overland, via the Silk Road, to China in the late 1200s. Going that way was absurdly slow and dangerous so finding all-water routes was desirable, leading in part to the age of discovery. Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama was the first European to make it to India, in 1498, after rounding the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. He introduced spices such as pepper and cinnamon to Europe.
A ton of shipping traffic still travels between east and west (e.g. all the cheap commercial goods made in China or elsewhere, or oil from the Middle East) and going by sea continues to be preferred. But, instead of going all the way around Africa, nearly all those ships now go through the Suez Canal in Egypt, which cuts transit time more or less in half.
To first create a modern all-water connection between the Indian Ocean (through the Red Sea) and the Mediterranean Sea, construction started on the canal in 1859. The original design had no locks and dams, featuring water flowing freely from one side to the other. Building was carried out by the Suez Canal Company, run by a largely British and French group, who completed the first version of the waterway in 1869. At the time most of current-day Egypt was within the Ottoman Empire and this was done according to their (admittedly weak) authority. By the 1880s instability in the region led to the British invading Egypt in the Anglo-Egyptian War, in large part to keep the canal open and operating. They were at the time a preeminent military power, most certainly in maritime matters, and protecting trade was a top priority. The 1888 Convention of Constantinople guaranteed the canal's neutrality, allowing vessels from all nations to utilize it. Later, however, Britain would close the canal to enemies during both world wars, where it unsurprisingly was as key a chokepoint in naval affairs as it was in global trade. Occupation of Egypt continued through World War II, and the canal was a major reason for the North Africa campaign. Afterward the British withdrew to the area immediately surrounding the canal.
In 1956 came the Suez Crisis. Following WWII Britain was a considerably weakened world power, though it still considered the canal vital to connectivity of remnants of the Empire. Arab nationalism, including in Egypt, was on the rise. Beginning in 1922 Egypt had been ruled by a British installed monarchy. In 1954 an Egyptian army officer and leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew the monarchy and seized power, eventually getting elected President of the new Arab Republic of Egypt two years later. He sought Arab unity, widespread domestic reforms and a nationalization of the Suez Canal. This last goal was accomplished quickly, as a month after becoming President in 1956 (June->July) Egyptian troops took over the canal. In a period of just over a week in late October/early November 1956, Israel, Britain and France jointly invaded Egypt to retake the canal. Even though successful they found it blocked and could not immediately reopen shipping, in fact it ended up closed for 6 months. Political pressure, partially from President Eisenhower in the United States, forced their withdrawal. It was a calamity for Britain in particular, where Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigned in disgrace (as depicted on The Crown). Today it's seen as the end of Britain as a world power. In Egypt, it was a massive boon for the new President Nasser and his Arab nation, which has controlled the canal ever since.
Later, starting at the beginning of the Six-Day War with Israel in 1967, Egypt blockaded and closed the canal to all traffic, even stranding 15 ships inside. It would remain closed for exactly eight years before finally reopening June 5, 1975. You have to wonder the impact this had on worldwide trade because that's probably immeasurable and magnitudes worse than the problems caused by the Ever Given.
Today the canal is considerably larger than it was at its inception and still has no locks and dams, unneeded due to flat terrain. Then 164 km (102 mi) long and 8 m (26 ft) deep, it's now 193 km (120 mi) long and 24 m (79 ft) deep and has been widened as well. Ships that pass through can be as much as 20 m below water level or 68 m above it, with a maximum weight of 240,000 deadweight tons. Ridiculous. Very recently, in 2015, a parallel channel called the 'New Suez Canal' was completed, adding more capacity.
Typically there are three one-directional planned convoys each day through the canal, needed due to limited width in certain sections, and timed so that the convoys cross in an appropriate place. Due to low speeds, each ship takes 12-16 hours to make the trip. In a 24 hour period, only about 76 ships can complete the journey. This is why you see such huge vessels. And yet 8% of the worlds trade passes through.
There's so much more but I don't have time for that and ya'll probably don't really care. I'm glad the Ever Given is free and hopefully something like that doesn't happen again.
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