One of the great engineering marvels of the world. The canal stretches over 100 miles from Port Said and the Mediterranean Sea to Suez and the Red Sea. Excavation of the canal began on April 25th, 1859, and on November 17, 1869 the barrage of the Suez plains reservoir was breached and waters of the Mediterranean flowed into the Red Sea. Unlike the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal has no locks, because the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Suez have roughly the same water level. The passage takes between 11 and 16 hours at a speed of around 8 knots. The low speed helps prevent erosion of the canal banks by ship's wakes.
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