Ferdinand de Lesseps, French Engineer

Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps (November 19, 1805 - December 7, 1894) was the French developer of the Suez Canal, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and substantially reduced sailing distances and times between the West and the East. He read a memoir by the civil engineer Jacques-Marie Le Pere, one of the scientific members of Napoleon Bonaparte's French expedition. In it he described Napoleon's instructions for a Suez Canal. The idea stuck. In 1851 De Lesseps then retired from the diplomatic service and never again occupied any public office. He died in 1894 at the age of 89

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1805 Appointed Consul Consulate Developer Diplomatic Lesseps Suez Vice-consul Vicomte

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