The artificial 161 km. long waterway connects the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The width of the canal ranges between 70-125 meters. Depth of the channel is 11-12 meters. The higher than 10.36 meters cannot pass from the channel. In 1951 to control the traffic, a side canal was opened between the regions of el-Kantara and el-Firdan which 13.5 km. long.

Since 2000 BC plans were made for connecting the Nil Delta with the Red Sea by using the Aci Lake, but technical inefficiencies and afterwards, the discovery of Cape of Hope in the 15^th century, hindered all those projects. The university of “Compaigne Universelle du CanalMaritime de Suez” was founded for the application of the project drawn by Ferdinand Vicomte de Lesseps in 1854. The studies were began in1861 and finished in 1869 the year canal was opened.

In 1869 the Government of Egypt gave the administration of the canal to an international company for 99 years. In 1875 Britain possessed 45% of the canal. In 1956 it was nationalised by the Government of Egypt. Here upon, France and Britain had attacked Egypt and the canal had been closed, later it was opened, but, in 1967 it was closed again as a result of Israeli attack to Egypt, Syria and Jordan and is still closed up today.

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