EGYPT

EGYPT / مِصر.

29th anniversary of the Revolution
and 25th anniversary of the nationalization of the Suez Canal.
With a small stylized map of the Suez Canal and an indication of the increase
in navigation through the Canal since 1956 and until 1981.
Second stamp in a set of 2, issued on 23.07.1981.
Face value: 20 milliemes of Egyptian pound.

Catalogs
- Scott No. 1161.
- StampWorld No. 869.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1147.

The Suez Canal (in Arabic, قناة السويس) is a navigable canal located in Egypt that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. Its length is 163,30 km (120.11 mi) between Port Saíd (on the Mediterranean coast) and Suez (on the Red Sea coast). The canal excavation works began officially on April 10, 1859, promoted by the French Ferdinand de Lesseps. It was solemnly inaugurated on November 17, 1869, although the first ship had crossed it on February 17, 1867.

On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to nationalize the canal to finance the construction of the Aswan Dam. The measure was received with indignation by France and the United Kingdom, the main shareholders of the Suez Canal, and on October 29 of that same year the so-called Sinai War broke out. Egypt, in retaliation, sank forty ships in the canal, causing its blockade. At the beginning of 1957, after the intervention of the UN, the withdrawal of the European powers and Israel was completed and the canal could be reopened.