Linking Two Seas. A 101-mile waterway, the Suez Canal separates Africa from Asia, runs north-south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, connects the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, and provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the Indian Ocean. Running from Port Said in the north to Suez in the south, the canal is a lockless open cut with major bends, which makes use of an intricate series of lakes to both the north and south of the main canal. Over the long sweep of history, imperial powers have been sensitive to the value of a canal linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. It seems that the Egyptians around 1850 B.C.E. constructed the first canal, and the Romans later extended it. After the collapse of Rome the canal came under Byzantine control and fell into disrepair, but...