Suez Canal Inauguration
11/17/1869 AD opened
The canal opened under French control. The opening ceremonies began at Port Said with illuminations, fireworks, and a banquet on the yacht of the Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Egypt and Sudan.
The royal guests arrived the following morning: the Emperor Franz Joseph I, the French Empress Eugenie in the Imperial yacht L'Aigle, the Crown Prince of Prussia, and Prince Louis of Hesse.
Other international guests included the American natural historian H. W. Harkness.[60] In the afternoon there were blessings of the canal with both Muslim and Christian ceremonies, a temporary mosque and church having been built side by side on the beach. In the evening there were more illuminations and fireworks.
On the morning of 17 November, a procession of ships entered the canal, headed by the L'Aigle. Among the ships following was HMS Newport, captained by George Nares, which would survey the canal on behalf of the Admiralty a few months later.
Subjects Who or What opened?
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France Nation -
Egypt Nation -
Ferdinand de Lesseps French diplomat and late... -
Isma'il Pasha (the Magnificent, إسماعيل باشا) Khedive of Egypt a...
Objects To Whom or What was opened?
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Suez Canal (قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, Qanātu s-Suways) An artificial sea-level ...
Events in 1869 MORE
