Spotlight On... The Suez Canal

The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and is an extremely useful waterway, both now and long ago. It is controled and maintained by the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Suez Canal Authority. However, anyone is allowed to use it at any time, regardless of wars or what country the ship is from. Today, about 7.5% of the world's trade goes through the canal, and in 1955, two-thirds of Europe's oil was being transported through it. This is obviously an important canal, because without it, ships would be forced to either travel around the southern-most tip of Africa (adding about 2,700 miles to a trip) or unload everything, have the goods driven across land, and reloaded on another ship on the other side. The canal really makes everything go quicker, and is very useful in today's world of trading and transport.