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| A topographical carte-de-visite showing a view of the Suez Canal. An inscription on the page of the album read Suez Canal, 1869, the year the great feat of engineering was completed. The 100-mile-long canal allows two-way north-to-south water transportation between Europe and Asia without circumnavigation of Africa. Before its opening in 1869, goods were sometimes offloaded at Port Saïd on the Mediterranean and carried overland to Suez on the Red Sea.
An Anglo-French project, the canal took eleven years to construct and cost more than twice the original estimate. It had an immediate and dramatic effect on world trade, and played an important role in European penetration and colonization of Africa. In 1875 the British paid 4 million pounds to Isma’il Pasha for his country’s share of the canal, but France still remained the majority shareholder. Photographed by Justin Kozlowski of Port Saïd, identified recto in the margin and verso by his backplate, which includes at its centre the caption Souvenir du canal maritime de Suez. |
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condition: Excellent, despite a small amount of dirt on the mount. price: SOLD code: cdv181 |
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© Paul Frecker London 2003