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The idea of linking the Mediterranean and Red sea first occurred during the Pharaonic age.
The Pharaohs were aided by the dwarves in this endeavour. They dug a canal linking both seas through the eastern branch of the Nile Delta. Later the canal was neglected until the Greeks, followed by the Romans dug it several times but it was again neglected.
The canal was dug once again at the time of the Arab conquest of Egypt. It continued to exist for scores of years but was later filled up.
During the French campaign of 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte thought of linking the two seas directly by means of a navigation canal, but engineers did not support the idea of believing that the Red Sea level is nine meters higher than that of the Mediterranean.
In 1854 the French engineer Ferdinand De-lesseps managed to sign a concession with the Egyptian government to dig the Suez Canal. Digging of the Canal began in April 1859 and continued for ten years. More than 1 1/2 million Egyptian workers took part, of which more than 125,000 lost their lives.
| 609 BC | The first canal was dug under the orders of Pharaoh Necho II. This connected the Nile to the Bitter Lakes and these to the Red Sea. |
| 285 to 246 BC | Ptolemy II widened the canal. |
| 96 to 117 AD | Darius and Trajan renovated Necho II’s canal, but as this was not very suitable for navigation it was later abandoned. |
| 1574 AD | The idea of digging a canal through the Suez isthmus was put to the Council of Ten by the Republic of Venice. The project was abandoned as being too expensive. |
| 1798 AD | The engineers accompanying Bonaparte in Egypt had been ordered by the Directoire to dig the isthmus. Bonaparte put J-B. Le Père in charge of carrying out a survey. Despite Laplace’s opinion to the contrary, Le Père concluded that the level of the Red Sea was higher than that of the Mediterranean, an error which was to set the project back by half a century. |
| 1833 AD | A (subsequently disregarded) project for a canal across the Suez isthmus by the Saint Simonian Prosper Enfantin. |
| 30th November 1854 | First concession granted by Said Pasha, son of Mohammed-Ali, to Ferdinand de Lesseps for the digging and use of a canal through the Suez isthmus for 99 years. |
| 5th November 1857 | Floatation of Suez Canal. The share price was fixed at Frf 500, and 207,229 of the 400,000 shares available were bought. |
| 15th December 1858 | Establishment of the "Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez". |
| 25th April 1859 | Start of the digging of the canal at Port Said. |
| 9th June 1859 | An official order by the Egyptian government to halt work, ignored by Ferdinand de Lesseps. |
| 23rd October 1859 | After meeting with Ferdinand de Lesseps, Napoleon III officially supports the canal project. |
| 18th November 1862 | The waters of the Mediterranean flow into Lake Timsah. |
| 18th January 1863 | Upon the death of Said, Ismail Pasha becomes the Viceroy of Egypt. Turkey orders the project to be suspended. |
| 1864 | The conflict between Egypt and Turkey is resolved thanks to Napoleon III’s arbitration. The Company then abandons the fresh water canal and 60,000 hectares of irrigable land and accepts the obligation that fellahs should no longer be employed on the construction. The latter are partially replaced by machines. |
| 19th March 1866 | Ratification of the concession by the Turkish sultan, Abdul-Aziz-Khan (Egypt is a province of Turkey). |
| 15th August 1869 | The waters of the Red Sea join those of the Mediterranean. |
| 16th November 1869 | Inauguration of the Suez Canal. |
| 1872 | The Company narrowly avoids bankruptcy. |
| 25th November 1875 | The British government buys the 176,602 Compagnie universelle du canal de Suez shares held by Ismail and thus becomes the principal shareholder. |
| 21st February 1876 | Convention solving the conflict over the tariffs for using the shipping canal. |
| June 1884 to February 1885 | Establishment of a works programme for the widening of the Suez Canal. |
| 1st March 1887 | Authorisation for the night-time navigation of the canal. |
| 22nd December 1888 | The Constantinople International Convention guaranteeing the neutrality and free use of the Suez Canal. |