Which two bodies of water are connected by Egypt’s Suez Canal?

Egypt’s Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

The canal runs across the Isthmus of Suez, linking Port Said on the Mediterranean coast with the Gulf of Suez, an arm of the Red Sea. It opened to international navigation in 1869 and created a direct sea route between Europe and Asia without requiring ships to sail around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

Unlike the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal has no system of locks because its two connected seas are close enough in sea level for a sea-level waterway. The canal was nationalized by Egypt in 1956, an event that helped trigger the Suez Crisis. It was later closed during conflicts and reopened in 1975.

The canal remains one of the world’s most important shipping routes. The 2021 grounding of the container ship Ever Given demonstrated how a single blockage can disrupt global trade.