On 25 April 1859, construction of the one-hundred-one-mile long Suez Canal began, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez, a northern branch of the Red Sea.

Although the canal wasn’t completed until 1869, the desire to connect the Nile River in Egypt as well as the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea has a long history. The first canal in the area was constructed in the 13th Century B.C.E. Eventually, it fell into neglect, and in the 8th Century its use stopped completely. In the late 1700s, Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to build a new canal, but miscalculations made the project appear infeasible.Finally, in the mid-1800s, the French diplomat and engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps, convinced the Egyptian viceroy Said Pasha that a canal could be built after all.

In 1858, the Compagnie Universelle du Canal was formed and given the right to begin construction and operate the canal for 99 years. Subsequently, the Egyptian government was to regain control of the waterway. Construction began as planned on April 25, 1859, and the Suez Canal opened ten years later, on November 17, 1869. The cost of construction was $100 million.