Parting The Desert: The Creation Of The Suez Canal

The building of the Suez Canal was both a marvel of construction and the symbolic meeting of East and West. It was the vision of Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French diplomat, whose enthusiasm won the vital backing of Louis Napoleon and whose perseverance overcame the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston's determination to prevent the canal's completion. It was his pioneer outlook that eventually saw the project completed in 1869 after fifteen years of ceaseless effort.

This vivid account traces the Canal from its creation to its ecstatic international reception and its rather more complicated legacy.