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Symbolic Groundbreaking at Port Said
- When
- 25 April 1859
- Where
- Port Said
Ferdinand de Lesseps performed the first symbolic pickaxe swing at Port Said on 25 April 1859, signaling the start of construction.
The ceremony took place on Easter Monday, 25 April 1859. De Lesseps, representing the Suez Canal Company, initiated the physical work. This event also marked the founding of Port Said by Sa'id of Egypt, establishing the site as the northern entrance to the canal.
Sources
- Ferdinand de Lesseps Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-31
- Port Said Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.