Parting the Desert Between Two Seas

Summary

HISTORY This Week

Episode: Parting the Desert Between Two Seas

Date: April 27, 2026
Host: Sally Helm
Guests: Ebrahim Alhudai (Columbia University), Aaron Jakes (The New School)

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the extraordinary history of the Suez Canal, a man-made waterway that links the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and accounts for a staggering 12% of global trade today. Host Sally Helm unpacks the vision, conflicts, and consequences surrounding its creation in the 19th century, revealing a saga of ambition, colonial maneuvering, forced labor, and eventually, the rise of modern Egyptian national identity.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Vision and Early Obstacles

[01:38 - 09:10]

• Setting the scene: April 25, 1859—Ferdinand de Lesseps, a retired French diplomat, strikes the ceremonial first blow to begin the Suez Canal’s construction.
• De Lesseps seeks to fulfill a centuries-old dream (first imagined by the pharaohs and later revived by Napoleon) to link East and West.
• Napoleon’s engineers erroneously believed the differing sea levels would make a canal impossible. Later surveys corrected this, sparking renewed interest.

Notable Quote:

"Napoleon's engineers were wrong. There is no difference between the sea levels, which triggers all this interest by others in the canal."
— Ebrahim Alhudai [07:46]

• Early efforts by French “canalists” to convince Egypt’s ruler, Mehmet Ali, are unsuccessful due to political concerns—mainly, not wanting to anger Britain or cede economic control.

2. The Human Element: Friendship and Opportunity

[09:10 - 14:51]

• De Lesseps forges a strong relationship with Ali's youngest son, Prince Mohammed Said—“offering him macaroni” [10:49]—which later proves pivotal as Said eventually becomes Egypt’s ruler.
• Political leadership changes: Following Mehmet Ali and the unpopular Abbess I (who also opposes the canal), Said takes power after Abbess's dramatic assassination.

Notable Moment:

"At that time [Prince] used to escape and go to the house of Ferdinand de Lesseps... De Lesseps offered him macaroni."
— Ebrahim Alhudai [10:49]

3. The Birth of the Suez Canal Company and Financial Hurdles

[15:17 - 20:27]

• De Lesseps proposes a “public private partnership” to fund the canal by selling company shares internationally.
• The project faces major financing roadblocks—few investors can afford the steep share price, and Britain’s government is openly hostile.
• Only half the needed shares sell; Said is convinced (after heated arguments) to buy the remainder with funds Egypt must borrow.

Notable Quote:

"The canal has been cut by French energy and Egyptian money for British advantage."
— Aaron Jakes [32:06]

4. Forced Labor and Deadly Toll

[20:27 - 23:29]

• Massive forced labor (“corve”) system is used: tens of thousands of Egyptian peasants conscripted in harsh, deadly conditions. Over 100,000 die during construction.
• This practice is controversial even at the time, as anti-slavery movements gain ground globally.

Notable Quote:

"At the peak... there were 20,000 people getting kind of summoned and sent out to the Canal Zone... more than 100,000 Egyptian workers will die building the canal, making it one of the biggest, deadliest construction projects in history."
— Sally Helm & Aaron Jakes [22:26-22:41]

5. Shifting Sands: Cotton Boom, Debt, and British Control

[25:08 - 33:00]

• New ruler Ismail Pasha seeks to renegotiate the canal terms, wanting present profits as Egypt’s cotton becomes vital during the U.S. Civil War.
• Labor is diverted to cotton production; arbitration costs Egypt dearly, with more foreign loans deepening national debt.
• As cotton prices drop, Egypt is forced to sell its canal shares—primarily to Britain, which gains controlling interest.
• Ironically, the canal now benefits Britain most, despite their initial opposition.

Notable Quote:

"Britain has gone from despising the canal to owning almost half the company."
— Sally Helm [33:00]

6. National Identity, Independence, and Legacy

[33:38 - 37:02]

• Mounting debt, unrest, and foreign influence see Britain invade and effectively rule Egypt from 1882.
• The 20th century brings Egyptian nationalism. A push to memorialize workers over De Lesseps reflects new identity.
• In 1956, Nasser’s nationalization of the canal signals a bold assertion of sovereignty, as the statue of De Lesseps is toppled—leaving only a bare pedestal as a mark of changing times.

Notable Quote:

"If there will be a statue welcoming the travelers through the Canal, it will be the statue of the Egyptian peasant and not of Ferdinand de Lesseps."
— Ebrahim Alhudai [36:16]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:38 — Introduction & the first dig at Lake Manzala
• 04:59 — Egypt in the 1830s: Cairo vs. Alexandria; the birth of the canal idea
• 07:39 — The British survey correcting the engineering misperception
• 09:35 — Why Mehmet Ali opposes the canal; balance of British/French interests
• 10:49 — The formative friendship between De Lesseps and Prince Mohammed Said
• 14:35 — The assassination of Abbess and Said’s ascension
• 17:52 — De Lesseps' marketing tour for investors; Britain’s rejection
• 20:08 — Egypt buys the unsold shares, deepening its risk
• 21:33 — Forced labor and mortality among Egyptian workers
• 25:08 — Ismail Pasha’s business ambitions and the impact of the American Civil War
• 32:06 — The canal’s benefits for Britain
• 33:00 — British government becomes primary shareholder
• 34:18 — British protectorate and growing Egyptian resentment
• 35:36 — Birth of Egyptian national identity through the canal’s story
• 36:16 — Statue controversy and the reshaping of public memory

---

Memorable Moments

• The striking image of De Lesseps unfurling the Egyptian flag and giving a grand speech at the canal’s opening ceremony. [01:38]
• The tale of the young prince’s clandestine visits to De Lesseps for macaroni—humanizing their political alliance. [10:49]
• Explosive removal (symbolically and literally) of De Lesseps’s statue in the 1950s as a testament to Egypt’s evolving national consciousness. [36:42]
• The haunting statistic that over 100,000 Egyptians died building the canal. [22:41]

---

Tone and Style

The episode is rich in narrative, equal parts dramatic and analytic. Sally Helm uses a blend of vivid storytelling, suspenseful pacing, and insightful commentary—often letting experts’ perspectives punctuate key moments.

---

Conclusion

Through detailed interviews and expert analysis, this episode vividly recounts the complex saga behind the Suez Canal—a technological marvel born of imperial dreams, human suffering, and ultimately, a catalyst for the forging of modern Egyptian identity. The canal’s story is, as one expert says, “the triumph of man over nature” but also a poignant reminder of the human costs and shifting fortunes that shape world history.

Transcript

[Podcast Advertiser]

This podcast is brought to you by Wise, the app for international people using money around the Globe. With the WISE account, you can send, spend and receive in over 40 currencies with no markups and no hidden fees. Whether you're sending pesos across the pond, spending reals in Rio, or getting paid in dollars for your side gig, you'll get the mid market exchange rate on every transaction. Plus most transfers arrive in less than 20 seconds. Join 15 million customers internationally. Be smart, get wise. Download the wise app today. Ts and Cs apply.

[Alltrails Advertiser]

We all belong outside. We are drawn to nature. It calls to us. Whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes, nature makes all of our lives richer, calmer, and frankly, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it, but the outdoors is closer than we realize. With Alltrails, you can discover trails nearby or trails worth traveling to and explore confidently with offline maps and on trail navigation. Whether you're looking for a laid back walk with family or something more adventurous to get your heart pumping, Alltrails gives you the tools you need to get out there and find your outside. Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with Alltrails.

[Podcast Advertiser]

The History Channel Original Podcast

[Sally Helm]

history this week, April 25, 1859 I'm Sally Helm. Dawn on the shores of Lake Manzala. It's a shallow lake in the Nile Delta, maybe more of a lagoon. There are a couple of villages clustered around it, some nearby fishing shacks, and this morning there's an extra camp on the thin strip of land between this lake and the vast Mediterranean Sea. The men there have awoken early and are packing their gear onto camels, shovels and pickaxes because they're here to carve a new water route in this corner of the desert, one that today helps move an estimated 12% of all global trade the Suez Canal. The men and their camels travel to a specific spot nearby. It's marked out by stakes in the ground. Pretty soon there's a crowd gathered here, about 150 people, and one of them, a mustachioed retired French diplomat, steps forward. His name is Ferdinand de Lesseps. Theatrically, he unfurls an Egyptian flag and starts giving a grand speech about trade and civilization and progress. He raises his pickaxe and strikes a ceremonial blow. Then de Lesseps turns to the assembled workers, who are mostly Egyptian. They're the ones who are actually going to do the brutal work of building this canal, he tells them, remember that you are not simply digging up soil. Your work will bring prosperity to your families and to your countries. There's a cheer. The workers raise their tools and digging begins on the Suez Canal. The audacious goal is to cut through the desert to connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, opening trade routes between the east and west, changing global trade and geopolitics forever. Today, the conflicts and unintended consequences around building the Suez Canal. Why did the tremendous efforts of this mustachioed Frenchman end up enriching the British Empire? And how, decades later, did the Canal play an unexpected role in the birth of modern Egypt? Decades before Ferdinand de Lesseps drives that pickaxe into the ground, he is a budding fresh French diplomat. His first posting is in Alexandria, Egypt, where he's serving as vice consul. Part of his job will be to meet important people, but for the moment, he's not meeting anyone. The consulate has stuck him in quarantine

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

because he arrived from Tunis, where there was, I think, a cholera outbreak.

[Sally Helm]

That's Ebrahim Alhudai. He's getting his PhD at Columbia University, studying how the Suez Canal has influenced the rise of modern Egypt. But when we called him, he was in his hometown of Cairo, Egypt's capital.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

Cairo is a city that you can only understand from within. It's organized chaos, in a sense. It has its own logic. It's beautiful in so many ways.

[Sally Helm]

But Hudaibi told us, putting his hometown pride aside, that the most important Egyptian city in the 1830s was not Cairo, the but Alexandria. And that is where de Lesseps languishes in quarantine. Deeply bored, he has none of the 1830s entertainments he's accustomed to. He can't go smoke his pipe while watching a regatta. But the consulate takes pity on him.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

The Consul sends him a pile of books.

[Sally Helm]

Basically, de Lesseps picks up a memoir written by a French engineer. It talks about Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798. The General surveyed his conquest and was struck by a grand what if we could link the Mediterranean to the Red Sea by building a canal right through Egypt's northern desert? At that time, to get goods from Europe to Asia and back by sea, traders have to sail for three months all the way around the Horn of Africa. Great Britain and France are competing over trade with India in particular, and Britain is winning. So Napoleon thinks if we build this route, it would make it easier for France to get to India and we could get a bigger piece of that Lucrative trade. Napoleon wasn't the first person to have this vision. In fact, the pharaohs had imagined it millennia before. But Napoleon thought, I have all this power and modern technology. And he orders his engineers to look into it, find out whether this is possible. De Lesseps, in quarantine decades later, reads about the result in that memoir. This engineer helped study the landscape and came back with an assessment which concludes

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

that there's a difference in sea level between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean that renders the construction of the canal impossible because it will flood the valley.

[Sally Helm]

They thought water would spill down from the higher areas and swamp the lower areas. Also, cargo ships can't travel uphill, so they would have had to build an expensive system of locks to make travel possible. Napoleon scrapped the idea. But de Lesseps is smitten by this vision of linking the east and the West. He wonders, would it really be so hard? What if it were possible to build the canal? As it turns out, others are asking the very same question and coming up with an electrifying answer.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

In the 1830s, a British general conducts another survey of the desert of Suez and concludes that this is an error.

[Sally Helm]

Napoleon's engineers were wrong.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

There is no difference between the sea levels, which triggers all this interest by others in the canal. And they start visiting Egypt. And de Lesseps is acquainted with this

[Sally Helm]

group of canalists, the Canalists. They're a group of mostly French engineers and visionaries determined to act on this new information. It's the summer of 1834, and de Lesseps is joining them at a lavish luncheon. The group has recently pitched the idea of the canal to the ruler, or pasha of Egypt. He's a man named Mehmet Ali. Ali has been in power for three decades. Not much happens in Egypt without his approval. The canalists thought that it wouldn't be that hard to convince him. Surely he'd understand the glory and the profits that would be his if he approved their plan. Ali listened to the pitch and said, absolutely not.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

Mehmed Ali was strongly opposed to the idea of the canal for numerous reasons.

[Sally Helm]

For one, the route for this canal would be in a region less tightly controlled by Ali. And he feels that an overland route through Alexandria and Cairo would better guarantee profits for Egypt. Plus, he's not wild about the fact that these canalists are French.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

He feared provoking the British by accepting a project that is proposed by the French. He was very keen on maintaining this kind of balance between the powers.

[Sally Helm]

Britain, remember, dominates trade between Europe and India. It will have Nothing to gain, or so it believes, from a canal run by the French. Britain is proposing instead to improve the existing rail lines in Egypt.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

So it seemed that between these competing projects of the railway and the canal, that the railway was winning.

[Sally Helm]

Much to the dismay of the canalists. At their fancy luncheon, they console themselves by hitting the champagne hard. De Lesseps is disappointed too, but he will soon have a role to play in the drama of the canal.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

He was not, it's a poster child, but he took interest in the canal. He was there interacting with them, discussing with them, maybe even lobbying on their behalf.

[Sally Helm]

He still has a day job, of course, working as a French diplomat. He's meeting a lot of people and one of them is Pasha. Ali's youngest son, Prince Mohammed, said his

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

father was very keen on his youngest son's physical health. So he forced, his son, said, to go like, climb mountains and like, do hard labor a few days a week and forbade him from eating. But said at that time used to escape and go to the house of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the only place that he was allowed to go to. And De Lesseps offered him macaroni.

[Sally Helm]

Macaroni, like pasta. Just what the 11 year old prince desires.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

So this is how the relationship started, at least according to De Lesseps.

[Sally Helm]

De Lesseps takes an interest in the young prince. He keeps slipping in pasta and pastries. He also teaches him to ride horseback. And when De Lesseps eventually moves back to Europe, the two stay in touch. And the Frenchman, though now far from Egypt, still nurtures a hope that one day a canal will part the desert. One thing is certain, it'll never happen under Ali Pasha.

[Podcast Advertiser 2]

There's a familiar kind of story, one where someone does everything right and still hits a wall. In history, that might come from bureaucracy. Today it might be the healthcare system, if you've ever tried to deal with it. Waiting on hold, getting a claim denied, not fully understanding what a doctor just told you. You know how frustrating that can be. It's complicated, time consuming, and it can feel like no one's really connecting the dots. That's why I was struck when I came across solace. And importantly, it's covered by insurance. With solace, you get a dedicated advocate, someone who actually steps in and does the hard parts for you. A solace advocate can help you find the right doctors and schedule appointments, fight denied claims to get your care approved by insurance, and even join your appointments remotely to translate doctor speak into plain language so you actually understand what's going on. They'll also make sure your doctors stay in sync and break down test results and treatment plans so you're not left guessing. These are experienced professionals, registered nurses and healthcare experts who work with you one on one. It's the kind of support you don't realize you need until you do. Go to SolisHealth.com to see if you qualify. It takes about two minutes and it's covered by insurance. That's SolishHealth.com must be 18 or older. Advocates do not provide medical or legal advice.

[Sally Helm]

Hi, my name is Lloyd Lockridge and I'm the host of a new podcast from Odyssey called Family Lore. In this podcast, I'm going to have people on to tell unusual and sometimes far fetched stories about their families. I've heard my whole life that she

[Podcast Advertiser 2]

invented the margarita and then we're going

[Sally Helm]

to investigate those stories and find out how much of it is true. He gets a patent one month before the Wright Brothers. Oh my God. Please follow and listen to Family Lore, an Odyssey podcast, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips. That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19,000 local agents, they help

[Podcast Advertiser 2]

you find the coverage that fits your

[Sally Helm]

needs so you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go [e-mail] like a good neighbor, State Farm is there, but no one stays in power forever. In 1848, Ali dies. His nephew, Abbess I takes over and he's not exactly beloved.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

Abbess had terrible relations with everyone. He was known to have a temper and whatnot. He's on bad terms with many of

[Sally Helm]

his relatives and he too is opposed to the canal. Not just out of crankiness, but because he's so cranky and people at home don't like him. Abbess I wants to maintain the support of the powerful British government, so, like his uncle before him, he refuses to let the French Canalists build once again, the dream is dead. Until the summer of 1854.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

What happened? Abbess was killed. He was actually killed, allegedly by two of his slaves who were fed up with the way he treated them and they just killed him one evening. So when Abbess was killed, he was succeeded by his uncle Said.

[Sally Helm]

Mohammed Said, none other than the boy who once loved eating pasta with Ferdinand de Lesseps. When Said takes power in 1854, de Lesseps is officially retired. His time as a Diplomat is over. But could it be, he wonders, that his time as a builder has just begun? De Lesseps gets a meeting with Said, who is now 32 years old.

[Aaron Jakes]

And de Lesseps basically begins to pitch him on this idea.

[Sally Helm]

That's Aaron Jakes, a professor at the New School in New York City. He's working on a big book about the canal's history and he told us this is a breakthrough moment. The canal project has already been turned down twice by two different rulers. But when Mohammed Said hears about it from de Lesseps, he's drawn to the audacity and grandeur of the project and what that could mean for Egypt.

[Aaron Jakes]

There's a case to be made that doing something so dramatic and transformative would play a role in raising Egypt's stature on a world stage and demonstrating that Egypt was an increasingly modern country worthy of being a kind of peer to the great powers of Europe.

[Sally Helm]

So Said, yes. Now the question is, who's going to pay for it? The cost of digging a trench through 120 miles of desert will be enormous. Said knows Egypt doesn't have that kind of money. And especially as a new leader, he doesn't want to take out hefty loans from foreign banks, risking dangerous levels of debt. But de Lessep says, I have an idea. It's along the lines of what today we'd call a public private partnership. What if, he tells Mohamed Said, what if I form a corporation, call it the Suez Canal Company. We can distribute the risk in this project by asking investors, regular people around the world, to buy shares in the company. That money will fund the canal and de Lessep says he'll take charge of this whole project.

[Aaron Jakes]

And in return for doing all of those things, the company would enjoy a very large share of the profits on the canal for the period of a 99 year lease.

[Sally Helm]

And we are talking enormous profits. De Lesseps predicts the canal will earn 30 million francs a year, or as much as 300 million in, in today's dollars. The company doesn't get all of it. Egypt and the shareholders would make money too. And Said sounds good. He strikes a deal with de Lesseps to create the Suez Canal Company. Next, de Lesseps has to actually do what he promised. He has to find thousands of investors willing to give him their money.

[Aaron Jakes]

And so he set out on the sales tour in the autumn of 1858 to give all of these speeches and drum up the promise of this notion that large numbers of ordinary people would buy small shares and ultimately things did not play out that way in his

[Sally Helm]

home country of France, people say sounds great, but also sounds very expensive. Even a small share in the Suez Canal Company costs about as much as a French person's average annual income. De Lesseps goes to Austria, Constantinople, Russia. He also goes to an unlikely place, Great Britain. The same Great Britain that has vehemently opposed the canal since day one. But it's a financial hub flush with money and full of potential investors. So the tireless Frenchman goes there. He finds some. Some interest among the British public. But the government greets him with scorn. The Prime Minister denounces the project. British newspapers call it flagrant robbery. One naysayer gets up in Parliament to denounce De Lessep's very character. That naysayer eventually offers an apology, thus narrowly averting a duel. But the keenest blow of all comes from a group of British engineers who

[Aaron Jakes]

conducted their own studies and concluded that the canal would not be a viable project.

[Sally Helm]

All this means that by the end of his tour, about 176,000 shares remain unsold.

[Aaron Jakes]

Yeah, it's a lot. So it's about 45% of the shares. This marketing scheme came up short.

[Sally Helm]

De Lesseps is stuck. Construction can't begin until he has sold all of the shares. So he has two abandon the project or appeal to his old friend Mohammad Said, now Pasha of Egypt, for help.

[Aaron Jakes]

And here again, his relationship with Said Pasha became consequential. Basically, Lesseps returns to Egypt and says, I need you, Sayyid Pasha, to buy 176,000 shares of in the canal company.

[Sally Helm]

By some accounts, Said and de Lesseps argue over this for days. Buying those shares would require Egypt to take out massive loans from foreign banks, take on a staggering load of debt.

[Aaron Jakes]

This is exactly the scenario that the Egyptian government was trying to avoid when they opted for this arrangement.

[Sally Helm]

But Said Pasha also really wants the canal built. It's a matter of both personal and national prestige. And in the end, he decides to bail de Lesseps out. He agrees to take the plunge and commit the funds for the great Canal. On April 25, 1859, near the shores of Lake Manzala, Ferdinand de Lesseps plunges his pickaxe into the ground. Then he turns to those assembled laborers. What lies ahead is years of backbreaking work, and De Lesseps isn't going to be the one to do it. He tells those men, honor to the immortal Mohammed Said Pasha. Long may he live. There's a dark side to the agreement between De Lesseps and Said has promised to bolster the project's workforce force by pressing tens of thousands of his citizens into forced labor. In Egypt, this system is known as corvet.

[Aaron Jakes]

So the idea was basically the Egyptian government would be effectively subsidizing the excavation by providing very cheap labor, forcing Egyptian peasants to labor on projects of the government's choosing.

[Sally Helm]

This kind of flower, forced labor, wasn't new to Egypt. It built the pyramids. Countries throughout history and across the world had used it too, but at this time and in this place, it carries specific political repercussions. Egypt is a province of the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman Empire had banned the use of corve. This is a time when many anti slavery movements are taking shape. Said and de Lesseps know this, but they go ahead anyway, forcing tens of thousands of people to work by hand in the desert sun, attacking the earth with picks and shovels.

[Aaron Jakes]

At the peak of the use of this institution of the Corvette, there were 20,000 people getting kind of summoned and sent out to the Canal Zone, 20,000 working there, and 20,000 more getting sent home on a rotating basis.

[Sally Helm]

At night, many workers sleep on the ground with little or no cover, and desert nights can be cold at times. They're paid for a day's work with just a loaf of bread. Some workers are given notes that promise them scant wages, but many of those promises are broken. In the end, more than 100,000 Egyptian workers will die building the canal, making it one of the biggest, deadliest construction projects in history. Yet the work proceeds uninterrupted until 1863, when another shock arrives. An important figure dies, and it seems that the canal will die with him.

[Podcast Advertiser]

It's time to bring on the blooms at the Home Depot with Spring Garden deals. Find savings on hanging baskets and floors, flowers to brighten your backyard, or any space that needs instant color. Then get everything you need to plant and protect them, with low prices guaranteed on soil and mulch. Dig into Spring garden deals for four days at the Home Depot now through May 10th exclusion supply. See homedepot.com pricematch for details.

[Sally Helm]

Ready to soundtrack your summer with Red Bull Summer All Day Play? You choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic, a deep end dj, a road dog, or a trail mixer? Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track. Red Bull Summer All Day Play Red Bull gives you wings. Visit red bull.com brightsummerahead to learn more. See you this summer. Your next chapter in healthcare starts at Carrington College's School of Nursing in Portland. Join us for our open house on Tuesday, January 13th from 4 to 7pm you'll tour our campus, see live demos, meet instructors and learn about our associate degree in nursing program that prepares you to become a registered nurse. Take the first step toward your nursing career. Save your spot now at carrington. Edu Events. For information on program outcomes, Visit Carrington. Edu Sci. In 1863, the ruler of Egypt, Mohammed Said, dies in his bed at the age of 40. He is succeeded by his 32 year old nephew, Ismail.

[Aaron Jakes]

He was extremely ambitious and quite ruthless in a whole variety of ways, but also by many accounts, a much more shrewd businessman.

[Sally Helm]

This spells trouble for the canal because Ismail has long believed that Ferdinand de Lesseps had gotten the better of the agreement, that Ismail's uncle had basically been

[Aaron Jakes]

duped or pressured or swayed into accepting a pretty lousy deal for Egypt.

[Sally Helm]

Ismail takes a fresh look at the Suez Canal agreement and decides that it needs to be redrawn because the canal might involve future profits for Egypt. But Ismail is more concerned with present profits. He sees a huge and immediate business opportunity for his country. An opportunity that has resulted from a disruption on the other side of the world. It's 1863 and the American Civil War is raging.

[Aaron Jakes]

Why was this important to the story of the Suez Canal? When the Union Navy began to blow blockade Confederate ports at the beginning of the Civil War, the American south, which until that point was the single largest supplier of raw cotton in the world, was basically cut off from the world market that could be purchasing that cotton.

[Sally Helm]

The American south can't get its supply of cotton on the world market, but the demand persists, which means that cotton prices are rising. And who else grows cotton? Egypt. Egypt grows lots of cotton. So Ismail knows that if he can seize the moment and get more cotton to market, there's a lot of money to be made. But to do that, he'll need laborers,

[Aaron Jakes]

which means that he was even less inclined to be devoting the labor force. Conscripted through the cotton corvet to work on this foreign company's canal project, Ismail

[Sally Helm]

takes control of the canal's corve. Many of the workers now spend long days producing cotton on farms. De Lesseps demands compensation for the loss. There's a long, heated arbitration and the result is bad for Ismail. He has to cough up 38 million francs, several hundred million dollars in today's value to pay up. He's forced to take out even more foreign loans. It's fine, he thinks, with the profits I'm making from the cotton boom, which shows no signs of ending. I've got it covered. Aaron Jakes says. The payout to De Lesseps comes around the time the Frenchman realizes that he doesn't need the Corvette anyway.

[Aaron Jakes]

And the reason for this is is easily explained through an analogy with enjoyable experiences at the beach. So if you dig a hole near the water at the beach, initially you're just digging sand, even if it's wet sand out of the ground. And you can make good progress for a while. But eventually you will hit the water line. As you continue to dig, water will fill into the hole. The sides of the hole will start to fall in.

[Sally Helm]

When that happens, as you're digging a giant canal, you no longer need men with shovels. You need heavy machinery to clear the mud fast enough and stay ahead of the water. De Lesseps buys what's needed and gets the job done. On August 15, 1869, a little over ten years after construction began, waters from the two seas, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, mingle for the first time. Even at this moment, many think that the canal is a myth. But De Lesseps and Ismail are about to show the whole world it's real by hosting an over the top opening ceremony. They start planning for fireworks and banquets and camels in procession. And now it's November, the day before the grand opening. Everything is in place. There will be no more hiccups.

[Aaron Jakes]

Except it wasn't as deep as it should have been, so the bottoms of ships could sometimes hit ground.

[Sally Helm]

The night before the ceremony, a ship gets stuck in the canal. De Lesseps turns to Ismail and asks how they should deal with this. Ismail takes a minute to consider and then he says, blow it up. For once, the two men agree on something. Although in the end, the ship is removed without resorting to dynamite. The next day, 6,000 spectators from Egypt and around the world show up at Port Said. It's a city named for the now dead pasha. It's gone from uninhabited to to a bustling port city since S. Lessep struck the first ceremonial blow 10 years ago. the celebration, royalty abounds. Everyone from the Empress Eugenie of France to the Austro Hungarian Emperor to the Crown Prince of Prussia comes to see the canal. They sail at the head of a 78 ship parade. Ebrahima Hudaibi told us that despite the enormous price tag, Ismail believed it was worth it.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

It's the changing moment in world history. It's the triumph of man over nature. It's the opening of a new era,

[Sally Helm]

and it's the beginning of a new era. For Ferdinand de Lesseps, the opening of the Suez Canal, which he had first imagined more than 30 years earlier, has made him famous.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

De Lesseps becomes probably one of the most recognizable faces ever, and names of the world globally for long decades after that.

[Sally Helm]

But the initial fanfare eventually fades, and there are some problems. The Suez Canal serves fewer ships and earns less money than de Lesseps and Ismail had expected. The strong winds hamper some sailing ships. The canal is more suited to steamships, which have only recently started arriving on the sea. But it takes a lot of money to build steamships, and one country in particular has that kind of money.

[Aaron Jakes]

Britain was the global epicenter of world financial markets. So the city of London was a place where very large pools of capital were constantly being formed and sloshing around.

[Sally Helm]

They've also had an industrial revolution, and they're now great at building big things made of iron and steel. Aaron Jakes quotes a saying from the time that describes the irony of Britain benefiting so handsomely from a project it once tried to kill.

[Aaron Jakes]

The canal has been cut by French energy and Egyptian money for British advantage.

[Sally Helm]

Meanwhile, in Egypt, the cotton boom has long since ended. All that debt is coming due, and Ismail must find a way to pay it. He tries squeezing every possible penny by raising taxes and selling off government assets.

[Aaron Jakes]

What we might now describe as a kind of fire sale.

[Sally Helm]

But it's not enough. Ismail is forced to take a desperate measure.

[Aaron Jakes]

And the most dramatic of these sales was the purchase for the British government of the Egyptian government's shares in the Suez Canal Company, which meant that from 1875 onwards, the British treasury was the single largest shareholder in the Suez Canal.

[Sally Helm]

Now the irony is doubled. Britain has gone from despising the canal to owning almost half the company. And to their benefit, the canal is soon widened and deepened, allowing more ships to use it. In the canal's first decade, the amount of goods passing through skyrockets by 700%. More than 3 million tons of goods will pass through every year. Profits soar, profits that Great Britain gets a big share of. But despite Ismail's fire sale, Egypt's debt crisis only deepens.

[Aaron Jakes]

And in 1876, finally, the thing that they had been trying to avoid happened.

[Sally Helm]

Egypt defaults on their debts, government jobs and paychecks are cut and civil unrest follows. Egyptian activists say their government has made the country beholden to foreign banks and that the people are paying for Ismail's mistakes. Great Britain watches nervously. They want Egypt to keep paying back their debts.

[Aaron Jakes]

And then eventually the British found a pretext to invade the country and basically quash that uprising.

[Sally Helm]

Beginning in 1882, Egypt becomes a de facto protectorate of Great Britain. The Egyptian government is pretty much controlled by British officials. British troops roam the cities. And then in 1909, the Suez Canal Company tries to extend its lease on the Canal long before it expires. But it runs into Egypt's nationalist movement, which has arisen in opposition to the country's colonial occupation. The nationalists loudly oppose the renewal, and

[Aaron Jakes]

the nationalist movement that organized this campaign actually won that fight.

[Sally Helm]

But Great Britain still owns a majority of shares in the Canal and has the right to operate it for the next 50 years. Although that's not how things will turn out. In 1922, Egypt gains its political independence. And in 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal Company, taking ownership away from its European stakeholders. Ebrahim Al Hudaybi told us that through this struggle for independence, the Canal became a potent city symbol. For Egyptians, it was more than just a part of their land. It was now a part of their identity.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

It is through this project in port that the nation emerges, because there is this sense of collective identity, collective experience, but also collective ownership of the Canal. We dug the Canal collectively. The labor force came from all over Egypt. So yes, it's servitude, yes, it's humiliation to a certain extent, but also it is the togetherness of the Egyptian people that emerges from and through the construction of the Canal.

[Sally Helm]

In the midst of nationalizing the Canal, some Egyptians even call for a statue memorializing the workers. They say if there will be a

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

statue welcoming the travelers through the Canal, it will be the statue of the Egyptian peasant and not of Ferdinand de Lesseps.

[Sally Helm]

Not of Ferdinand de Lesseps. Since 1899, a 35 foot tall bronze statue of de Lesseps had stood at the northern entrance of the Canal, his right hand outstretched, welcoming the ships. But in 1956, protesters attacked the statue

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

of de Lesseps and the statue was exploded and fell into the waters of the Canal they had severed from its body.

[Sally Helm]

The French government lobbies Egypt to reinstall the statue at the mouth of the Canal.

[Ebrahim Alhudai]

But the inhabitants of Port Said insisted that this is not going to happen.

[Sally Helm]

And the protesters get their wish. Today, where his statue originally stood, there sits instead an empty co concrete pedestal. Maybe one day it will support a bronze statue of an Egyptian worker, a laborer of the corve holding a pickaxe. Thanks for listening to History this week. For more moments throughout history that are also worth watching, check your local TV listings to find out what's on the History Channel today. If you want to get in touch, please shoot us an email at our email address, historythisweekhistory.com or you can leave us a voicemail at 212-351-0410. We are reading and listening and we really love hearing from you, so please reach out. Thank you to our guests Ebrahim El Hudaibi and Professor Aaron Jakes for speaking with us for this episode. Thank you also to Dr. Bella Galil for talking with us. This episode was Produced by Julie McGruder, sound designed by Dan Rosado and story edited by Jim o'. Grady. History this week is also produced by Ben Dickstein, Julia Press and me, Sally Helm. Our associate producer is Emma Fredericks. Our executive producers are McKamey Lynn and Jesse Katz. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next.