> In 1869, the Suez Canal opened, linking the Mediterranean Sea with which otherbody of water?And the answer is: the Red Sea.Often considered as the unofficial border between Africa and Asia, the SuezCanal runs through Egypt and took ten years to build. The United Kingdom andFrance owned the canal until July 1956, when the President of Egypt nationalizedit, leading to the Suez Crisis of 1956.Interestingly, work on connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean began farbefore the 20th century. It is said that several ancient pharaohs actuallyattempted to dig a series of canals to connect the two waterways, but altitudeand practicality rendered the attempts unsuccessful. It wasn't until 19thcentury technology cleared the way for construction that creation of canal wasactually fruitful. It opened officially in 1869 and quickly became a monumentalimprovement to shipping between Europe and Asia, as circumnavigating thecontinent of Africa no longer became necessary.The site has since been the subject of several intense clashes of world power.In 1888, the Convention of Constantinople declared the Suez Canal a neutral zoneunder the protection of the British, who were occupying Egypt and nearby Sudan.It wasn't until 1956 that British influence over the Canal began to waver. Afterrelinquishing control to the Egyptian Government, the British and other majorEuropean powers such as France and Israel were outraged when Egyptian PresidentNasser moved to nationalize the canal and close another major waterway. As thelikelihood of conflict escalated, the U.N. dispatched peacekeeping troops intothe area and controlled the situation for a decade to come. This Suez Crisis wasa culmination of decades of rising tension between a colonized nation and thedesire for ultimate economic profit. Today, the Suez Canal remains a necessary pathway of trade and shipping. Morethan 300 million tons of goods are moved through the area each year.