Ferdinand de Lessups was the French developer of the Suez Canal that links the Mediterranean and Red seas.

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Ferdinand de Lessups was the French developer of the Suez Canal that links the Mediterranean and Red seas. The Suez Canal dates to 1869. A few years later, in the 1880s, de Lessups tried to do the same in Panama in Central America. His plan was to build a canal that would link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, in 1881, work was stopped because of engineering difficulties and bouts of malaria that took a toll on workers. The canal was to be called DeLessups Panama Canal. Decades later, the United States undertook the project and completed the canal in 1914. This illustration, which dates to 1891, shows de Lessups and work beginning according to his plan for the Panama Canal.

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Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
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Keywords: 1880s, building, canal, construction, de, delessups, developer, ferdinand, french, history, lessups, panama, suez