Ferdinand de Lesseps Biography

Ferdinand de Lesseps was a French diplomat famous for building the Suez Canal. The canal, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, considerably reduced the sailing distances and thereby the time taken to travel between Europe and East Asia. This in turn led to a dramatic surge in world trade and played an important role in increasing European colonization of Africa. Ferdinand de Lesseps was born as the son of a French Consul and hailed from a distinguished family of French career-diplomats. Following in his father’s footsteps, he too embarked on a career as a diplomat and was appointed vice-consul at Alexandria, Egypt. There he studied the survey report of the civil engineer Jacques-Marie Le Père who had accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte on his campaign in this country. Le Pere had described the details of an abandoned Suez Canal project which kindled de Lesseps’ imagination. He decided to construct a canal across the African isthmus. He could not immediately start working on this plan though years later he got the opportunity to make his dream come true. After a decade of hard work, the Suez Canal finally opened in 1869 and changed the course of international trade almost immediately. De Lesseps became a very famous man following the success of the canal and received many awards and honors for his achievements.