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1875-1882Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Britain Buys the Suez Canal Shares and Occupies Egypt

Disraeli borrows £4 million from the Rothschilds to buy Egypt's canal shares, and Britain later invades to keep control

On the timeline · around 1875-1882 · The Imperial CenturyThe Imperial CenturyZenith and the First CracksBritain Buys the Suez Canal Shares and Occupies Egypt18601870188018901900

Quick facts

Shares purchased
1875, for £4 million
Seller
Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Egypt
Invasion of Egypt
1882

What happened

The Suez Canal opened in 1869 under a French-led company, but by the mid-1870s most of the traffic through it, and 13 percent of Britain's global trade, was British. In November 1875, when Egypt's debt-ridden ruler Isma'il Pasha put his 44 percent shareholding in the canal company up for sale, Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli borrowed £4 million from the Rothschild bank, since Parliament was out of session, to buy the shares for the British government, giving Britain a controlling interest. Continuing financial and political instability in Egypt led Britain to invade in 1882, following a nationalist uprising against foreign interference led by Colonel Ahmed Urabi, and Britain then ruled Egypt as a de facto protectorate for decades while nominally leaving it under Ottoman and Khedival sovereignty.

Why it matters

Control of the canal shortened Britain's sea route to India by weeks and became the empire's central strategic artery. Protecting that route drew Britain into direct rule over Egypt and Sudan and would still be driving British policy eighty years later at the Suez Crisis of 1956.

How we know

World History Encyclopedia and the National Army Museum both document the share purchase and the 1882 invasion using British parliamentary and military records of the period.

Sources

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Britain Buys the Suez Canal Shares and Occupies Egypt · The British Empire · SourcedStory