How the Suez Canal changed the world - Lucia Carminati

翻译人员: Yan Li Xiao 校对人员: Yuwei Wu

In March 2021, fierce winds blew a container ship off course.

2021 年 3 月，狂风把一艘 集装箱船吹偏离航线。

In most places, this would have caused a minor incident.

在大多数地方，这会 造成一件小事。

But in the Suez Canal, it was a global crisis.

但在苏伊士运河， 这是一场全球危机。

This vessel wasn’t just blocking other ships—

这艘船不仅挡住了 其他船舶—

It was obstructing the flow of international trade

它阻碍了 国际贸易的流动

through one of the world’s most important waterways.

通过世界上的一个 最重要的水路。

The site of the Suez Canal has been of interest to rulers of this region

早在公元前二千年

as far back as the second millennium BCE.

该地区的统治者就对 苏伊士运河感兴趣。

To move goods between Asia and the Mediterranean basin,

在亚洲和地中海盆地 之间运输货物，

traders had to traverse the narrow isthmus separating the Red Sea and the Nile,

商人不得不穿越分隔红海和 尼罗河的狭窄的地峡，

journeying in camel-bound caravans through the unforgiving desert.

骑着骆驼的大篷车上 穿过无情的沙漠。

A maritime passage between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea

在印度洋和地中海 之间的海上通道

would bypass this trip altogether.

将完全绕过这次旅行。

And throughout the 16th century,

在整个 16 世纪，

multiple powers attempted to construct such a canal.

多个势力 尝试建造这样一条运河。

But their plans were obstructed by cost, political strife,

但他们的计划 被成本，政治冲突，

and the ever-shifting sands.

和不断变化的沙子阻碍。

In 1798, interest in building a canal was rekindled,

1798 年，对建筑一条运河的 兴趣被重新点燃，

this time attracting attention from across Europe.

这次引起 来自欧洲各地的注目。

Over the following decades, individuals from Austria, Italy, Britain, and France

在接下来的几十年里，来自奥地利、 意大利、英国和法国的人

pitched their plans to Egypt’s rulers.

向埃及的统治者提出了他们的计划。

At the time, Egypt was a territory of the Ottoman Empire,

当时，埃及是 奥斯曼帝国的一个领土，

which was resistant to these proposals.

它抵制了这些提议.

But Egypt's political and economic autonomy was gradually increasing,

但埃及的政治和经济 自主权逐渐增强，

and its government was eager to pursue the project.

它的政府渴望 去追求这个项目。

When Sa’id Pasha came into power in 1854, he approved a plan

1854 年赛义德帕夏上台时， 他批准了

from the enterprising and manipulative French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps.

进取和操纵的法国外交官 费迪南德·德·莱塞布提出的一个计划。

Signed in 1854 and 1856, a pair of concessions gave de Lesseps

分别于 1854 年和 1856 年签署，让步给了德莱塞布

authority to establish the Suez Canal Company

权力来建立 苏伊士运河公司

and finance it by selling shares to “capitalists of all nations.”

并通过出售股票给 “所有国家的资本家”为其融资。

The contracts between Sa’id Pasha and the Canal Company

赛义德帕夏 和运河公司之间的合同

also promised a workforce of hundreds of thousands of Egyptian workers.

还承诺了 数十万埃及工人的劳动力。

Beginning in 1862, about 20,000 laborers were forcibly recruited every month,

从 1862 年开始，每个月约有 20,000 名劳工都被强制募，

digging the canal in harsh desert conditions

在恶劣的沙漠条件下 挖运河

without easy access to food or water.

不易获得食物或水。

Diseases like cholera ran rampant and workers toiled under the threat of whips.

霍乱等疾病肆虐， 工人在鞭子的威胁下劳作。

The estimates of those who died during construction range into the thousands.

施工期间的死亡人数估计 范围达数千。

In 1864, the new Egyptian ruler, Isma’il Pasha,

1864年，新的埃及统治者， 伊斯梅尔帕夏，

put an end to the coerced Egyptian labor,

结束强迫埃及人劳动，

but he still pressed forward with construction.

但他仍然推进建设。

Foreign workers from all over Europe and the Middle East

来全欧洲和中东的 外来工人

labored alongside dredgers and bucket excavators

与挖泥船和斗式挖掘机 一起工作

to remove 74 million cubic meters of dirt.

来清除 7400 万立方米的污垢。

This massive population of workers required infrastructure

这个庞大的工人群体所要基础设施

to deliver drinking water and other supplies,

来运送饮用水和其他用品，

giving rise to a flourishing economy of restaurants, brothels, and smuggled goods.

催生了餐馆、 妓院和走私商品的经济。

Amidst the bustle were born three new cities with multi-ethnic populations:

喧嚣中诞生了三个 多民族人口的新城市：

Port Said on the northern Mediterranean shore,

北部的塞得港地中海沿岸，

Ismailia on the canal's middle tract,

运河中段的伊斯梅利亚，

and Port Tewfiq, at the southern edge of the canal.

和在运河的南端的图菲克港。

The construction site bypassed the Nile and ran directly from Port Said to Suez.

工地绕过尼罗河 直接从塞得港跑到苏伊士。

And after years of work, the streams of the two seas finally began merging

在 1860 年代中期

in the mid-1860s.

经过多年的努力， 两海的溪流终于开始合并。

The finished canal was 164 kilometers long,

完成的运河有 164 公里长，

with a width of 56 meters at the surface,

地面宽 56 米，

and it was officially inaugurated on November 17th, 1869.

并正式在1869 年 11 月 17 日开始使用。

While it struggled financially during its first few years,

虽然在它最初的几年里 在财务上苦苦挣扎，

the canal ended up dramatically accelerating global trade.

运河加快了全球贸易。

It also facilitated the migration of numerous marine species,

也促进了 众多海洋物种的迁移，

dramatically changing local ecosystems and cuisine.

极大的改变了当地的 生态系统和美食。

Over the decades, traffic through the canal grew.

几十年来， 通过运河的交通量增加了。

But in 1875,

但在 1875 年，

financial issues forced Egypt to sell much of its stock in the Canal Company,

金融问题迫使埃及大量出售 其在运河公司的股票，

allowing Britain to take over.

并允许英国接管。

It was only in 1956 that control of the canal fully reverted to Egypt

直到 1956 年 运河才完全归还于埃及

when it was nationalized by President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

当它被加迈勒·阿卜杜勒·纳赛尔 总统国有化的时候。

This move sparked a military standoff

此举引发了埃及 还有英国、法国和以色列之间

between Egypt and Britain, France, and Israel.

的军事对峙。

But once resolved,

但一旦解决，

it transformed the canal into a major source of Egypt's national revenue

运河会变成埃及的 一个主要的收入来源

and helped redeem the canal's imperialist legacy.

并帮助挽回了运河的 帝国主义遗产。

Today, nearly 30% of all global ship traffic passes through the Suez Canal,

如今，全球近 30% 的船舶 要通过苏伊士运河，

totaling over 20,000 ships in 2021.

到 2021 年， 船舶总数超过 20,000 艘。

However, the incident of the Ever Given is a stark reminder

然而，The Ever Given 事件是一个鲜明的提醒

of just how fragile our manmade systems can be.

关于我们的人造系统 可以有多么的脆弱。