Critics said Ferdinand de Lesseps's ambitious scheme to link the waters of the Mediterranean and Red seas - thus cutting 5,800 miles off the India to Europe ocean voyage - was impractical, unwise, and even foolish. The hostile, empty desert of the Isthmus of Suez posed a seemingly insurmountable geographical challenge to the builder's ingenuity and persistence.

During the ten years of its construction, from 1859 to 1869, the Suez Canal was the focus of worldwide attention. Around the globe, people followed its progress and then celebrated its completion. Today, the Suez Canal is an enduring testimony to people's limitless vision.