Age of empire · 1859-1882

The Suez Canal

In ten years, tens of thousands of Egyptian workers dig a canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The sea route from Europe to Asia shrinks by thousands of kilometres, and Egypt falls into debt and foreign control. Students ask who really gained from the canal.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1840 to AD 1870
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In ten years, tens of thousands of Egyptian workers dig a canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The sea route from Europe to Asia shrinks by thousands of kilometres, and Egypt falls into debt and foreign control. Students ask who really gained from the canal.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain how the Suez Canal was built and why it mattered for world trade.
  • Compare the sea routes from Europe to Asia before and after 1869.
  • Explain how the canal led to debt and the British occupation of Egypt in 1882.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1840

Before the canal

Open the map in 1840 and turn on Trade Routes. Follow the Cape Route to the Indies around Africa. How many weeks do you think that voyage took by sailing ship?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1870

After the canal

Move the slider to 1870 and look at Trade Routes again. Follow the new Suez Route from London to Bombay. Which seas does it cross?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1870

The isthmus

Zoom in on the land between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Find Port Said, Ismailia and Suez. Why does a canal here need no locks?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Rulers of ancient Egypt and Persia had already dug canals linking the Nile and the Red Sea. Why did it take until 1869 to cut straight through?
  2. Much of the early digging was done by forced labour. Who should get the credit for building the canal?
  3. The canal made Egypt vital to world trade, but also deep in debt. How can a great project make a country poorer?
  4. Britain did not build the canal, but soon controlled it. How did that happen?
  5. People say that whoever controls a narrow passage controls trade. Can you think of another example?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Darius the Great in Rule History. About 2,400 years earlier, Darius completed a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea. Discuss: why have rulers again and again wanted a waterway through Egypt?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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