Choose ANY project from the pre-modern (pre-1750) period - Essay Example

The need to construct the Suez Canal therefore became imperative with the growing need for quick transportation to facilitate trade and human transport. A French company took the initiative of constructing the canal and obtained a 99 year concession for the canal. Thereafter, the Suez Canal Company was established with much funding obtained from Europe. Ferdinand de Lesseps obtained the concession in 1854 from Egypt and Sudan in order to build the canal (Farnie 58). He brought together a team of thirteen experts who were to be in charge of overseeing the construction of the canal.

Indeed, myriad challenges were anticipated and it was expected that these challenges would be addressed in the course of the process. Surveys were done in Egypt and most of the discussions and deliberations were conducted in Paris. A final unanimous report for the construction was therefore produced detailing all the relevant aspects of the canal that would create any relevance at that time and in the future. The real construction work began at Port Said in Egypt on 25th April 1859 (Karabell 89).

In order to provide the much needed labor that was necessary for the excavation work, forced labor was effectively used. Sources estimate that at any given time, up to 30,000 people were working on the project. It is further estimated that a total of 1.5 million, at one time or another, actually worked on the project. Challenges often abound in this process. The excavation work was very difficult and so many workers died in the process. The desert conditions where the workers did most of their work were never favorable in any way for such kind of work.

Despite the imperative need for the canal, the British government had always opposed the whole idea behind the canal from the outset. In the course of the project, the British government totally opposed the use of slaves as the main source of labor for the construction of the canal.