Suez Canal: 22 May 2008

From its beginnings around 600 BC when the earliest version of the Suez Canal was built by Necho II of Egypt until today when an average of 50 ships traverse the famous waterway daily, the Suez Canal has been an important link between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Ships pass through Lake Manzala in the north, Lake Timsah in the middle and the Bitter Lakes further south, the latter taking up almost 30 km (18.6 mi) of the total Canal length of 167 km (104 mi).

Though both the sounds of war—most recently 1967’s Six Day War and 1973’s Yom Kippur War—and the inaugural jubilation from 1869 have long been silenced, listening to Verdi’s “Aida” might rekindle Suez Canal celebratory feelings. The opera was commissioned for the festivities, although it did not make its debut until a year later at the (no longer existing) Cairo Opera House.