Historical Outline:

• Egypt was the first country to dig a man-made canal across its lands to connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea via the branches of the River Nile. The first who dug it was Senausert III, Pharaoh of Egypt (1874 B.C.). This canal was abandoned to silting and reopened several times as follows:

- Canal of Sity I	1310	B.C.
- Canal of Nkhaw	610	B.C.
- Canal of Darius I	510	B.C.
- Canal of Ptolemy II	285	B.C.
- Canal of The Romans	117	A.C.
- Canal of Amir El-Moemeneen	640	A.D.

• The Suez Canal is actually the first canal that directly links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
• It was opened for navigation on the 17 ^th of November 1869.
• Egypt nationalized the canal on the 26 ^th of July 1956.

The Canal was closed five times; the last time was the most serious one since it lasted for 8 years. The Canal was then reopened for navigation on