Earliest Suez Canal?

[KarneeKarnay]

So a lot of European and Middle Eastern History has been caused by the flow of trade from India to Europe. I say European and Middle Eastern, but in all honesty the ramifications of constant battle for control of this trade route have effected every point of the earth at one point.

From Europeans trying to reach India by sea and discovering the Americas, or The Steppe Hordes being attracted by the wealth of this area and the ramifications of this on civilizations across the old world.

So my question is how early could a canal have been built connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and what would the ramifications of this have been?

I would imagine that just the existence of this route would cause an explosion of cultural and technological exchange. I'm interested to see what you guys think.

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

1878 BC is probably the earliest attempt although it was abandoned. One was definitely completed during the reign of Ptolemy II but possibly as early as the 13th century BC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_of_the_Pharaohs

There have been several canals linking the Mediterranean, Nile, and Red Sea. You sailed up the Nile and then down the canal out to the Red Sea. Apparently salt water getting into the Nile was a big concern before locks were invented. The Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs all dug or reopened older canals there. The Suez Canal just happens to be the largest, most recent, and most direct.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

The problem is that it costs a bucketload of money to build such a canal and THEN TO MAINTAIN it. The economic/strategic importance of such a canal depends on large and sustained trade (or possibly naval movements) between the Indian Ocean and the Med. It's 'easy' to get some ruler to get a canal built as a prestige project (especially the easier ones that use the Nile). But canals silt in or rivers change course or sand blows in, and you have to dredge/rebuild the canal continually.

Note that, OTL, with modern construction equipment (to build the canal) and steamships to use it, that the Suez Canal took years to make a profit.

With the much smaller international trade of earlier periods, the economics are much worse.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

See also

Early Suez Canal
pompejus

Earliest Suez Canal
leopard9

Early Coffee, Suez Canal, and Larger Rome: Outline Timeline
DominusNovus

AH: Suez Canal built 200 years earlier than in OTL (Multi-page thread 1 2)
Joseph Solis in Australia

WI: Roman Empire with Suez and Rhine-Danube canals
Velasco

Earliest Possible Suez Canal? (Multi-page thread 1 2 3 4 5 6)
Zmflavius

An Ottoman Suez Canal?
Mr.J

Suez Canal, How Early? (Multi-page thread 1 2)
Ioannes

1500 Suez Canal (Multi-page thread 1 2)
mowque

Earliest Suez Canal? (Multi-page thread 1 2)
Rekjavik

Earlier Suez Canal
SRT

Why no earlier Suez Canal?
corourke

Early Suez
LordKalvan

Suez Canal of Antiquity kept open
rewster

 

[Harald Sigurdson II]

If you want something before the Middle Ages, you're going to need a big state with the money to maintain that. A successful Achaemenid empire, or Alexander's empire after a few decades of peace should do. The Romans wouldn't have that much interest.

 

[Namayan]

I believe the OPs title is different from the question asked. If we are going to answer the question by the OP, the Egyptians in OTL already built a canal that connects the med sea to the Red Sea, which is the pharaohs canal. But if we are going for what otl suez is, then you will have a different answer.