What happened to The Ancient Suez Canal?

after ptolemy the second the red sea coast prospered due to new trade opportunities brought by his canal however the canal would not last forever so whatever happened to this ancient suez canal [Music] after the roman conquest of egypt in the late 1st century bce the romans made use of the already existing impressive infrastructure and administration in vesua's canal's case it was not only used but also expanded for example emperor trajan had its off tape changed to secure a better flow of water this canal would be referred to as the river of trajan by contemporaries however after 170 ce no further records of the canal or travels on it have been recovered the next reference to the canal would be made during the tumultuous period of the rise of islam and its subsequent expansion into egypt north africa and most of the middle east after the conquest of egypt in 641 the conqueror and then governor of egypt amir ibn alas had the canal reopened as contemporary arab authors claimed it had silted up due to neglect the canal would be renamed and would henceforth be known as the khalid amir al-mumin or in english the canal for commander of the faithful and would be a vital component of islamic trade allowing for different parts for caliphate to trade directly unfortunately the canal's renaissance would be short-lived in 767 for reasons unknown the abbasid caliph al-mansour ordered the canal closed such a decision would not stop the flow of trade between the mediterranean and india for centuries to come egypt would become the middle man in such transactions by the late middle ages the mercantile powers of genoa and venice had made their fortunes by trading with the mamricks of egypt and reselling their indian goods such as spices to the rest of europe venetian dominance would only be contested by the portuguese as the portuguese explorer vasco de gama reached india in 1498 opening a new trade route between india and europe this one circumnavigating africa even so rather than accepting portuguese rivalry the venetian republic envisioned a grand and ambitious project of opening a new canal in vesuez unfortunately for the serene republic their dreams would be crushed by the ottoman conquest of egypt in 1517 the ottomans hostile to the venetians rendered the plan impossible to carry out venetian leaders driven to desperation contemplated dig in a waterway between the red sea and the nile anticipating the sewers canal by almost 400 years to bring the luxury trade flooding to their doors again but this remained a dream at the height of their power the ottomans also sought to build a canal their goal being that it would allow the connection of a red sea fleet to the larger mediterranean one as the red sea was suffering from a large european presence it also had the benefit of allowing an easier journey between the greater ottoman empire the muslim world and the holy cities of mecca and medina unfortunately such a project revealed itself prohibitively expensive even for the mighty ottoman empire and the plan would be abandoned the ottoman project would be the last attempt at the creation of such a canal for over 200 years its memory only being revived during napoleon's campaign in egypt as he found what remained of the ancient canal thanks for watching special thanks to our imperator level patron fernando lopez oyeda if you enjoyed this video be sure to like and subscribe for more great historical content also feel free to check out our discord and patreon linked in the description below

Channel: Know History

Views: 164,451

Keywords: egypt, ancient history, history, ancient, suez, canal, suez canal, egyptian history, ptolomy ii, ancient suez canal, canal of the pharaohs, bitter lakes, red sea, guld of suez, classic history, medieval history, medieval, al-mansur, caliph, abbasids, rashidun, ottomans, mamluks, portugal, vasco da gama, india, venice, genoa

Id: _MP9uvw9T6A

Length: 4min 8sec (248 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 17 2021