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Ferdinand de Lesseps
Sign in to saveAlso known as Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps, Ferdinand Marie Vicomte de Lesseps
French diplomat and entrepreneur, developer of the Suez Canal (1805–1894)
Ferdinand de Lesseps was a French diplomat and businessman who designed and oversaw the construction of the Suez Canal in the mid-1800s, one of the world's most important waterways. His achievement in connecting Europe and Asia through Egypt fundamentally transformed global trade and shipping, making him one of the most influential figures of his era.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Ferdinand
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- France
- Place of birth
- Versailles
- Place of death
- Guilly
- Occupation
- writer
- Position held
- president
- Languages spoken
- French
- Noble title
- viscount
- Image
- Ferdinand de Lesseps-BNF.jpg
- Residence
- Italy
Show 10 more facts
- place of burial
- Père Lachaise Cemetery
- Commons category
- Ferdinand de Lesseps
- date of birth
- 1805-11-19
- date of death
- 1894-12-07
- member of
- Société de Géographie
- name in native language
- Ferdinand de Lesseps
- Commons gallery
- Ferdinand de Lesseps
- relative
- Eugénie de Montijo
- P8168
- Conceição
- P12749
- Cycas armstrongii
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps ( French: [lesɛps]; 19 November 1805 – 7 December 1894) was a French Orientalist diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal, which in 1869, joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, substantially reducing sailing distances and times between Europe and East Asia.
He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a Panama Canal at sea level during the 1880s, but the project was devastated by epidemics of malaria and yellow fever in the area, as well as by financial problems, and the planned Lesseps Panama Canal was never completed. Eventually, the project was bought out by the United States, which solved the medical problems and changed the design to a non-sea- level canal with locks. It was completed in 1914.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ferdinand de Lesseps” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.