Transport & space · 1869

Suez Canal

A 164 km sea-level canal cuts the Europe-Asia sea route by about 7,000 km.

Ferdinand de Lesseps's company opened the Suez Canal in November 1869 after a decade of digging. London to Bombay by sea shrank from about 19,800 km to 11,600 km. It favored coal-fired steamships and remains one of the busiest trade arteries on Earth.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Iron screw steamship 1843
Bridgewater Canal 1761

What it led to 1

Panama Canal 1914

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Merchandise exports as a share of world GDP Latest: 24.2 % of GDP (2014) Source: Our World in Data

World trade as a share of GDP since 1500 Latest: 1950-now (PWT): 57.8 % of GDP (2023) Source: Our World in Data