Suez السويس (Arabic) Al-Sūwais
Satellite view of the port and city that are the southern terminus of the Suez Canal that transits through Egypt and debouches into the Mediterranean Sea near Port Said. (Up is south).
Suez Location in Egypt
Coordinates: 29°58′N 32°33′E / 29.967°N 32.55°E / 29.967; 32.55
Country	Egypt
Governorate	Suez
Government
• Governor	Saif al-Din Galal
Elevation	16 ft (5 m)
Population (2004)
• Total	478,553
Time zone	EST (UTC+2)

Suez (Arabic: السويس‎ as Suwais, Egyptian Arabic: [esseˈweːs]) is a seaport city (population ca. 497,000) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities. Together they form a metropolitan area. Railway lines and highways connect the city with Cairo, Port Said, and Ismailia. Suez has a petrochemical plant, and its oil refineries have pipelines carrying the finished product to Cairo.

History[link]

Painting of Suez, 1841

Early Islamic era[link]

In the 7th-century CE a town named "Kolzum" stood just north of the site of present-day Suez and served as eastern terminus of a canal built by Amr ibn al-'As linking the Nile River and the Red Sea. Kolzum's trade fell following the closure of the canal in 770 by the second Abbasid caliph al-Mansur to prevent his enemies in Arabia from accessing supplies from Egypt and the lands north of it. Nonetheless, the town benefited from the trade that remained between Egypt and Arabia.^[1] By 780 al-Mansur's successor al-Mahdi restored part of the canal.^[2] The Qarmatians led by Hasan ibn Ahmad defeated a Fatimid army headed by Gawhar al-Siqilli at Kolzum in 971 and thereby captured the town. Following his defeat in Cairo by al-Siqilli at the end of that year, Hasan and his forces retreated to Arabia via Kolzum.^[3] Suez was situated nearby and served as a source of drinking water for Kolzum according to Arab traveler al-Muqaddasi who visited in 986.^[4]

The Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, Saladin, fortified both Kolzum and Suez in to defend Egypt's eastern frontier from Crusader raids by Raynald of Chatillon.^[5] Between 1183-84, Raynald had ships stationed in the Red Sea to prevent the Ayyubid garrison at Kolzum from accessing water. In response, Saladin's brother al-Adil had Husam ad-Din Lu'lu build a naval fleet which sailed to the southern port of Aidab to end Raynald's venture.^[3] By the 13th-century it was recorded that Kolzum was in ruins as was Suez which had gradually replaced the former as a population center.^[1] According to Muslim historians al-Maqrizi and al-Idrisi, Kolzum had once been a prosperous town, until it was occupied and plundered by Bedouins. Arab geographer al-Dimashqi noted that Kolzum belonged to the Mamluk province of al-Karak at the time.^[3]

Ottoman and Egyptian rule[link]

To prevent Portuguese attacks against Egyptian coastal towns and the Red Sea port of Jeddah, Qansuh al-Ghawri the last Mamluk sultan ordered a 6,000-man force headed by Selman Reis to defend Suez in 1507, which in turn limited the Mamluk military's capabilities against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean sea.^[6] Following the Ottoman's conquest of Egypt at the beginning of the 16th-century, Suez became both a major naval and trading station. The Ottoman fleets at Suez were instrumental in disputing control with the Portuguese over Indian Ocean trade.^[1]

German explorer Carsten Niebuhr noted that in the 18th-century a 20-vessel fleet sailed annually from Suez to Jeddah—which served as the Islamic holy city of Mecca's port and Egypt's gateway for trade with India. However, by 1798, during Napoleonic invasion, Suez had devolved into an unimportant town. Fighting between the French and the British in 1800 left most of the town in ruins.^[1] Its importance as a port increased after the Suez Canal opened in 1869.

Modern era[link]

The city was virtually destroyed during battles in the late 1960s and early 1970s between Egyptian and Israeli forces occupying the Sinai Peninsula. The town was deserted following the Six Day War in 1967. Reconstruction of Suez began soon after Egypt reopened the Suez Canal, following the October War with Israel.

Suez was the first city to hold major protests against the government of Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 Egyptian revolution and was the scene of the first fatality of that uprising.^[7] On account of this, it has been called the Sidi Bouzid of Egypt, recalling that small town's role in the 2010–2011 Tunisian revolution.^[8]

Suez Canal[link]

Northernmost part of Gulf of Suez with town Suez on map of 1856

There was a canal from the Nile delta to the Gulf of Suez in ancient times, when the gulf extended further north than it does today. This fell into disuse, and the present canal was built in the nineteenth century.

Sunset view from land to Suez Canal Bridge, which links Africa with Asia

The Suez Canal offers a significantly shorter passage for ships than passing round the Cape of Good Hope. The construction of the Suez Canal was favoured by the natural conditions of the region: the comparatively short distance between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the occurrence of a line of lakes or depressions which became lakes (Lake Manzala in the north, and depressions, Timsah and the Bitter Lakes, part way along the route), and the generally flat terrain. The construction of the canal was proposed by the engineer and French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, who acquired from Said Pasha the rights of constructing and operating the canal for a period of 99 years. The Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez was formed. Construction took 11 years, and the canal opened on 17 November 1869. The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on world trade.

In 1956 Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the canal, provoking the Suez Crisis. Following the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, the canal was closed, and reopened in 1975.

Today, the canal is a vital link in world trade, and contributes significantly to the Egyptian economy; in 2009 the income generated from the canal accounted for 3.7% of Egypt's GDP.^[9]

Climate[link]

International relations[link]

Twin towns — Sister cities[link]

Suez is twinned with:

• Skopje, Macedonia^[11]

See also[link]

• Suez Port
• Suez Canal overhead line crossing, located in the city

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

• Suez-online.com

Media related to Suez at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 29°58′N 32°33′E / 29.967°N 32.55°E / 29.967; 32.55

v t e Egypt's largest cities by population Cairo Alexandria Giza Shubra El-Kheima Port Said Suez El-Mahalla El-Kubra Luxor Asyut Mansoura Tanta Faiyum Zagazig Ismaïlia Kafr el-Dawwar Aswan Qena Damanhour Minya Sohag Beni Suef Shibin El Kom Banha Edfu Talkha Kafr el-Sheikh Mallawi Dikirnis Bilbeis Arish