Ferdinand de Lesseps
Encyclopedia
Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps, GCSI
(19 November 1805 – 7 December 1894) was the French
developer of the Suez Canal
, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas in 1869, and substantially reduced sailing distances and times between the West and the East.
He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a sea-level Panama Canal
during the 1880s, but the project was devastated by epidemics of malaria
and yellow fever
in the area, and the projected de Lesseps canal was left uncompleted and eventually partially superseded by a non-sea-level canal with locks
, built by the United States and completed in 1914.
, in 1805. He had a sister, Adélaïde de Lesseps (1803–1879), married to Jules Tallien de Cabarrus (19 April 1801 – 1870), and two brothers, Théodore de Lesseps (Cádiz
, 25 September 1802 – Saint-Germain-en-Laye
, 20 May 1874), married in 1828 to Antonia Denois (Paris, 27 September 1802 – Paris, 29 December 1878), and Jules de Lesseps (Pisa
, 16 February 1809 – Paris, 10 October 1887), married on 11 March 1874 to Hyacinthe Delarue.
His first years were spent in Italy, where his father was occupied with his consular duties. He was educated at the College of Henry IV in Paris. From the age of 18 years to 20 he was employed in the commissary department of the army. From 1825 to 1827 he acted as assistant vice-consul at Lisbon
, where his uncle, Barthélemy de Lesseps
, was the French chargé d'affaires
. This uncle was an old companion of Jean-François de La Pérouse
and the only survivor of the expedition in which La Pérouse perished. Barthélemy de Lesseps had left the expedition in Kamchatka to travel to St Petersburg overland.
, where his father was consul-general. He aided the escape of Youssouff, pursued by the soldiers of the Bey
, of whom he was one of the officers, for violation of the seraglio
law. Youssouff acknowledged this protection given by a Frenchman by distinguishing himself in the ranks of the French army at the time of the conquest of Algeria
. De Lesseps was also entrusted by his father with missions to Marshal Count Clausel, general-in-chief of the army of occupation in Algeria. The marshal wrote to Mathieu de Lesseps on 18 December 1830: "I have had the pleasure of meeting your son, who gives promise of sustaining with great credit the name he bears".
In 1832 de Lesseps was appointed vice-consul at Alexandria
. While the vessel de Lesseps sailed to Egypt in was in quarantine at the Alexandrian lazaretto
, M. Mimaut, consul-general of France at Alexandria, sent him several books, among which was the memoir written upon the Suez Canal, according to Napoleon Bonaparte's instructions, by the civil engineer Jacques-Marie Le Père, one of the scientific members of the French expedition.
This work struck de Lesseps's imagination, and gave him the idea of constructing a canal across the African isthmus. Fortunately for de Lesseps, Mehemet Ali, the viceroy of Egypt, owed his position in part to the recommendations made on his behalf to the French government by Mathieu de Lesseps, who was consul-general in Egypt
when Ali was a colonel. Because of this, de Lesseps received a warm welcome from the viceroy and became good friends with his son, Said Pasha.
In 1833 de Lesseps was sent as consul to Cairo
, and soon afterwards given the management of the consulate general at Alexandria, a post that he held until 1837. While he was there an epidemic of plague broke out and lasted for two years, resulting in the deaths of more than a third of the inhabitants of Cairo and Alexandria. During this time de Lesseps went from one city to the other and constantly displayed an admirable zeal and an imperturbable energy. Towards the close of the year 1837 he returned to France, and on 21 December married Mlle
Agathe Delamalle (Garches
, Hauts-de-Seine
, 15 October 1819 – Paris, 13 July 1853), daughter of the government prosecuting attorney at the court of Angers
. By this marriage de Lesseps became the father of five sons: Charles Théodore de Lesseps (1838 – 1838), Charles Aimé de Lesseps (1840–1923), Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps (1842–1846), Ferdinand Victor de Lesseps (1847–1853) and Aimé Victor de Lesseps (1848–1896).
In 1839 he was appointed consul at Rotterdam
, and in the following year transferred to Málaga
, the ancestral home of his mother's family. In 1842 he was sent to Barcelona
, and soon afterwards promoted to the grade of consul general. In the course of a bloody insurrection in Catalonia
, which ended in the bombardment of Barcelona
, de Lesseps offered protection to a number of men threatened by the fighting regardless of their factional sympathies or nationalities. From 1848 to 1849 he was minister of France at Madrid
.
In 1849 the government of the French Republic sent him to Rome to negotiate the return of Pope Pius IX
to the Vatican
. He tried to negotiate an agreement whereby Pope Pius could return peacefully to the Vatican but also ensuring the continued independence of Rome. But during negotiations, the elections in France caused a change in the foreign policy of the government. His course was disapproved; he was recalled and brought before the council of state. He was the president at that time.
He was created on 30 August 1851 the 334th Commander and then the 200th Grand Cross
of the Order of the Tower and Sword
.
De Lesseps then retired from the diplomatic service, and never again occupied any public office. In 1853 he lost his wife and his son Ferdinand Victor at a few days' interval. In 1854, the accession to the viceroyalty of Egypt of Said Pasha gave de Lesseps a new impulse to act upon the creation of a Suez Canal.
Said Pasha
invited de Lesseps to pay him a visit, and on 7 November 1854 he landed at Alexandria; on the 30th of the same month Said Pasha signed the concession authorizing him to build the Suez Canal.
A first scheme, initiated by de Lesseps, was immediately drawn out by two French engineers who were in the Egyptian service, Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds
called "Linant Bey" and Mougel Bey. This project, differing from others that were previously presented or that were in opposition to it, provided for a direct link between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea
. After being slightly modified, the plan was adopted in 1856 by the civil engineers constituting the International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez
. Encouraged by the engineers approval, de Lesseps no longer allowed anything to stop him. He listened to no adverse criticism and receded before no obstacle. Neither the opposition of Lord Palmerston
, who considered the projected disturbance as too radical and a danger to the commercial position of Great Britain. De Lesseps was similarly not deterred by the opinions entertained, in France as well as in England, that the sea in front of Port Said
was full of mud which would obstruct the entrance to the canal, and that the sands from the desert would fill the trenches—no adverse argument, in a word, could dishearten Lesseps.
De Lesseps succeeded in rousing the patriotism of the French and obtaining by their subscriptions more than half of the capital of two hundred million francs which he needed in order to form a company, but could not attract any substantial capital contribution from the public in England or other foreign countries. The Egyptian government thus subscribed for eighty million francs worth of shares.
The Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez was organized at the end of 1858. On 25 April 1859 the first blow of the pickaxe was given by de Lesseps at Port Said. During the following ten years, de Lesseps had to overcome the continuing opposition of the British government preventing the Sultan
from approving the construction of the canal and at one stage, he even had to seek the support of his cousin, Empress Eugenie to persuade the Emperor Napoleon III to act as arbitrator in the disputes. Finally, on 17 November 1869 the canal was officially opened by the Khedive
, Ismail Pasha.
While in the interests of his canal de Lesseps had resisted the opposition of British diplomacy to an enterprise which threatened to give to France control of the shortest route to India, he acted loyally towards Great Britain after Lord Beaconsfield
had acquired the Suez shares belonging to the Khedive, by frankly admitting to the board of directors of the company three representatives of the British government. The consolidation of interests which resulted, and which has been developed by the addition in 1884 of seven other British directors, chosen from among shipping merchants and business men, has augmented, for the benefit of all concerned, the commercial character of the enterprise.
De Lesseps steadily endeavored to keep out of politics. If in 1869 he appeared to deviate from this principle by being a candidate at Marseille
for the Corps Législatif, it was because he yielded to the entreaties of the Imperial government in order to strengthen its goodwill for the Suez Canal. Once this goodwill had been shown, he bore no malice towards those who rendered him his liberty by preferring Léon Gambetta
. Afterward, de Lesseps declined the other candidatures that were offered to him: for the Senate in 1876, and for the Chamber in 1877. In 1873 he became interested in a project for uniting Europe and Asia by a railway to Bombay, with a branch to Peking. The same year, he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences
. He subsequently encouraged Major Roudaire, who wished to transform a stretch of the Sahara desert into an inland sea to increase rainfall in Algeria.
De Lesseps accepted the presidency of the French committee of Leopold II of Belgium
's International African Society. From this position he facilitated Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza
's explorations, and acquired stations that he subsequently abandoned to the French government. These stations were the starting-point of French Congo
.
From 17 November 1899 to 23 December 1956, a monumental statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps by Emmanuel Frémiet
stood at the entrance of the Suez Canal.
In May 1879 a congress of 136 delegates (including de Lesseps) assembled in the rooms of the Geographical Society in Paris, under the presidency of Admiral de la Roncire le Noury, and voted in favor of the creation of a Panama Canal, which was to be without locks, like the Suez Canal. De Lesseps was appointed President of the Panama Canal Company, despite the fact that he had reached the age of 74. It was on this occasion that Gambetta bestowed upon him the title of "Le Grand Français". However, the decision to dig a Panama Canal at sea level to avoid the use of locks, and the inability of contemporary medical science to deal with epidemics of malaria and yellow fever doomed the project.
In February, 1880, de Lesseps arrived in New York to raise money for the project. When he stayed at the Windsor Hotel, its staff flew the French flag in his honor. He met the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Geographic Society while touring the area. De Lesseps then went to Washington, met with President Rutherford Hayes, and testified to the House Interoceanic Canal Committee. He later went to Boston, Chicago, and several other American cities to raise interest and capital for the project.
De Lesseps went with his youngest child to Panama to see the planned pathway. He estimated in 1880 that the project would take 658 million francs and eight years to complete. After two years of surveys, work on the canal began in 1882. However, the technical difficulties of operating in the wet tropics dogged the project. Particularly disastrous were recurrent landslides into the excavations from the bordering water-saturated hills, and the death toll from malaria
and yellow fever
. In the end, insufficient capital and financial corruption ended the project. The Panama Canal Company declared itself bankrupt in December 1888 and entered liquidation in February 1889.
The failure of the project is sometimes referred to as the Panama Canal Scandal, after rumors circulated that French politicians and journalists had received bribes. By 1892 it emerged that 150 French deputies had been bribed into voting for the allocation of financial aid to the Panama Canal Company, and in February 1893 de Lesseps, his son Charles (born 1849), and a number of others faced trial and were found guilty. De Lesseps was ordered to pay a fine and serve a prison sentence, but the latter was overturned by the Cour de Cassation
on the grounds that it had been more than three years since the crime was committed. Ultimately, in 1904 the United States bought out the assets of the Company and resumed work under a revised plan.
Louise-Hélène Autard de Bragard.
She was born on the island of Mauritius
in 1848 at Plaines Wilhems and died on 29 January 1909 at Château de La Chesnay in Guilly
, Vatan, Indre
She was the daughter of Gustave Adolphe Autard de Bragard, a former Magistrate of Mauritius
, and wife Marie-Louise Carcenac (1817–1857), daughter of Pierre Carcenac (1771–1819) and wife Marie Françoise Dessachis. Eleven of her twelve children with de Lesseps survived their father:
, the Minister of the United States to France, gave a banquet in honor of the Franco-American Union and in celebration of the completion of the Statue of Liberty
. Ferdinand de Lesseps, as head of the Franco-American Union, formally presented the statue to the United States, saying:
In October 1886, de Lesseps traveled to the United States to speak at the dedication ceremony of the Statue of Liberty
, attended by President Grover Cleveland
.
de La Chesnaye in Guilly
, Vatan, Indre
, on 7 December 1894. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Tyrone Power
played de Lesseps in the movie Suez
(1938), a film over which de Lesseps' family sued for libel, claiming it was too highly fictionalized.
during the region's occupation by the English. One of his great-grandfathers, Pierre de Lesseps (Bayonne
, 2 January 1690 – Bayonne, 20 August 1759), son of Bertrand Lesseps (1649–1708) and wife (m. 18 April 1675) Louise Fisson (1654–1690), was town clerk and at the same time secretary
to Queen Anne of Neuberg, widow of Charles II of Spain
, exiled to Bayonne after the accession of Philip V, and married on 7 January 1715 his great-grandmother Catherine Fourcade (2 June 1690 – 22 August 1760), by whom he had fourteen children, six of whom died in childhood: Dominique de Lesseps (1715–1794), Pierre de Lesseps (1716 – ?), Marie de Lesseps (1717–1722), Arnaud de Lesseps (1719–1726), Jean-Barthélémy de Lesseps (1720–1795), Marcel de Lesseps (1720–1730), Jean-Pierre de Lesseps (1721 – 1721), Catherine de Lesseps, Gracy de Lesseps (1725–1791), Plaisance de Lesseps (1727–1735), Michel de Lesseps (1729–1801), married in 1769 to Florence Verdier (1739–1822) (parents of Louise Thérèse de Lesseps (1770–1866), married in 1788 to Mathieu Belland (1764–1817)), Martin de Lesseps (1730–1807), married to Anna Caysergues (1730–1823) and had issue, Jeanne de Lesseps (1733 – ?), married in 1759 to Alexandre Dubrocq, and Etiennette de Lesseps (1735 – ?), married in 1761 to Pierre Simonin.
From the middle of the 18th century the ancestors of de Lesseps followed diplomatic careers, and he himself occupied several diplomatic posts from 1825 to 1849. His uncle was ennobled by King Louis XVI
, and his father was made a count by Napoleon I
. His father, Mathieu de Lesseps (Hamburg
, 4 May 1774 – Tunis
, 28 December 1832), was in the consular service; his mother, Catherine de Grévigné (Málaga
, 11 June 1774 – Paris, 27 January 1853, was Spanish
on her mother's side, and aunt of the countess of Montijo, mother of the empress Eugénie. She was a daughter of Henri Grevigné (baptised Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts, Liège, 2 June 1744) and wife (m. Málaga
, 1766) Francisca Antonia Gallegos (1751–1853).
Order of the Star of India
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...
(19 November 1805 – 7 December 1894) was the French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
developer of the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas in 1869, and substantially reduced sailing distances and times between the West and the East.
He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a sea-level Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
during the 1880s, but the project was devastated by epidemics of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
in the area, and the projected de Lesseps canal was left uncompleted and eventually partially superseded by a non-sea-level canal with locks
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
, built by the United States and completed in 1914.
Early life
Ferdinand de Lesseps was born at Versailles, YvelinesYvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
, in 1805. He had a sister, Adélaïde de Lesseps (1803–1879), married to Jules Tallien de Cabarrus (19 April 1801 – 1870), and two brothers, Théodore de Lesseps (Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, 25 September 1802 – Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
, 20 May 1874), married in 1828 to Antonia Denois (Paris, 27 September 1802 – Paris, 29 December 1878), and Jules de Lesseps (Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
, 16 February 1809 – Paris, 10 October 1887), married on 11 March 1874 to Hyacinthe Delarue.
His first years were spent in Italy, where his father was occupied with his consular duties. He was educated at the College of Henry IV in Paris. From the age of 18 years to 20 he was employed in the commissary department of the army. From 1825 to 1827 he acted as assistant vice-consul at Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, where his uncle, Barthélemy de Lesseps
Barthélemy de Lesseps
Jean-Baptiste Barthélemy de Lesseps was a French diplomat and writer, member of the scientific expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse and uncle of Ferdinand de Lesseps.-Family and early career:His childhood was spent in Hamburg and then St...
, was the French chargé d'affaires
Chargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
. This uncle was an old companion of Jean-François de La Pérouse
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse
Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.-Early career:...
and the only survivor of the expedition in which La Pérouse perished. Barthélemy de Lesseps had left the expedition in Kamchatka to travel to St Petersburg overland.
Diplomatic
In 1828 de Lesseps was sent as an assistant vice-consul to TunisTunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, where his father was consul-general. He aided the escape of Youssouff, pursued by the soldiers of the Bey
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...
, of whom he was one of the officers, for violation of the seraglio
Seraglio
A seraglio or serail is the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in a Turkish household. The word comes from an Italian variant of Turkish saray, from Persian sarai , meaning palace, or the enclosed courts for the wives and concubines of the harem of a house or palace...
law. Youssouff acknowledged this protection given by a Frenchman by distinguishing himself in the ranks of the French army at the time of the conquest of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. De Lesseps was also entrusted by his father with missions to Marshal Count Clausel, general-in-chief of the army of occupation in Algeria. The marshal wrote to Mathieu de Lesseps on 18 December 1830: "I have had the pleasure of meeting your son, who gives promise of sustaining with great credit the name he bears".
In 1832 de Lesseps was appointed vice-consul at Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
. While the vessel de Lesseps sailed to Egypt in was in quarantine at the Alexandrian lazaretto
Lazaretto
A lazaretto or lazaret is a quarantine station for maritime travellers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. Until 1908, lazarets were also used for disinfecting postal items, usually by fumigation...
, M. Mimaut, consul-general of France at Alexandria, sent him several books, among which was the memoir written upon the Suez Canal, according to Napoleon Bonaparte's instructions, by the civil engineer Jacques-Marie Le Père, one of the scientific members of the French expedition.
This work struck de Lesseps's imagination, and gave him the idea of constructing a canal across the African isthmus. Fortunately for de Lesseps, Mehemet Ali, the viceroy of Egypt, owed his position in part to the recommendations made on his behalf to the French government by Mathieu de Lesseps, who was consul-general in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
when Ali was a colonel. Because of this, de Lesseps received a warm welcome from the viceroy and became good friends with his son, Said Pasha.
In 1833 de Lesseps was sent as consul to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, and soon afterwards given the management of the consulate general at Alexandria, a post that he held until 1837. While he was there an epidemic of plague broke out and lasted for two years, resulting in the deaths of more than a third of the inhabitants of Cairo and Alexandria. During this time de Lesseps went from one city to the other and constantly displayed an admirable zeal and an imperturbable energy. Towards the close of the year 1837 he returned to France, and on 21 December married Mlle
Miss
Miss is an English language honorific traditionally used only for an unmarried woman . Originating in the 17th century, it is a contraction of mistress, which was used for all women. A period is not used to signify the contraction...
Agathe Delamalle (Garches
Garches
Garches is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.Garches has remained largely residential, but is also the location of the Hôpital Raymond Poincaré , which specialises in traumatology, road accidents and physiotherapy.-19 January Monument:The...
, Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine is designated number 92 of the 101 départements in France. It is part of the Île-de-France region, and covers the western inner suburbs of Paris...
, 15 October 1819 – Paris, 13 July 1853), daughter of the government prosecuting attorney at the court of Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
. By this marriage de Lesseps became the father of five sons: Charles Théodore de Lesseps (1838 – 1838), Charles Aimé de Lesseps (1840–1923), Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps (1842–1846), Ferdinand Victor de Lesseps (1847–1853) and Aimé Victor de Lesseps (1848–1896).
In 1839 he was appointed consul at Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, and in the following year transferred to Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, the ancestral home of his mother's family. In 1842 he was sent to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, and soon afterwards promoted to the grade of consul general. In the course of a bloody insurrection in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, which ended in the bombardment of Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, de Lesseps offered protection to a number of men threatened by the fighting regardless of their factional sympathies or nationalities. From 1848 to 1849 he was minister of France at Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.
In 1849 the government of the French Republic sent him to Rome to negotiate the return of Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
to the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
. He tried to negotiate an agreement whereby Pope Pius could return peacefully to the Vatican but also ensuring the continued independence of Rome. But during negotiations, the elections in France caused a change in the foreign policy of the government. His course was disapproved; he was recalled and brought before the council of state. He was the president at that time.
He was created on 30 August 1851 the 334th Commander and then the 200th Grand Cross
Grand Cross
The phrase Grand Cross is used to denote the highest grade in many orders of knighthood. Sometimes the holders of the highest grade are referred to "knights grand cross" or just "grand crosses"; in other cases the actual insignia itself is called "the grand cross".Alternatively, in some other...
of the Order of the Tower and Sword
Order of the Tower and Sword
The Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit is a Portuguese order of knighthood and the pinnacle of the Portuguese honours system. It was created by King Afonso V in 1459....
.
De Lesseps then retired from the diplomatic service, and never again occupied any public office. In 1853 he lost his wife and his son Ferdinand Victor at a few days' interval. In 1854, the accession to the viceroyalty of Egypt of Said Pasha gave de Lesseps a new impulse to act upon the creation of a Suez Canal.
Suez Canal
Sa'id of Egypt
Muhammad Sa'id Pasha was the Wāli self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1854 until 1863, officially owing fealty to the Ottoman Sultan but in practice exercising virtual independence. He was the fourth son of Muhammad Ali Pasha. Sa'id was a Francophone, educated in Paris.Under Sa'id's rule...
invited de Lesseps to pay him a visit, and on 7 November 1854 he landed at Alexandria; on the 30th of the same month Said Pasha signed the concession authorizing him to build the Suez Canal.
A first scheme, initiated by de Lesseps, was immediately drawn out by two French engineers who were in the Egyptian service, Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds better known as Linant Pasha was an explorer of Egypt and, as the chief engineer of Egypt's public works, 1831–1869, the chief engineer of the Suez Canal.- Life and work :Having taken advantage of a sound education that emphasized mathematics,...
called "Linant Bey" and Mougel Bey. This project, differing from others that were previously presented or that were in opposition to it, provided for a direct link between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
. After being slightly modified, the plan was adopted in 1856 by the civil engineers constituting the International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez
International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez
The International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez was the commission consisting of various European experts convened in 1855 by Ferdinand de Lesseps as instructed by the viceroy of Egypt Muhammad Sa'id in order to ascertain the feasibility of a canal between the Mediterranean...
. Encouraged by the engineers approval, de Lesseps no longer allowed anything to stop him. He listened to no adverse criticism and receded before no obstacle. Neither the opposition of Lord Palmerston
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC , known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century...
, who considered the projected disturbance as too radical and a danger to the commercial position of Great Britain. De Lesseps was similarly not deterred by the opinions entertained, in France as well as in England, that the sea in front of Port Said
Port Said
Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
was full of mud which would obstruct the entrance to the canal, and that the sands from the desert would fill the trenches—no adverse argument, in a word, could dishearten Lesseps.
De Lesseps succeeded in rousing the patriotism of the French and obtaining by their subscriptions more than half of the capital of two hundred million francs which he needed in order to form a company, but could not attract any substantial capital contribution from the public in England or other foreign countries. The Egyptian government thus subscribed for eighty million francs worth of shares.
The Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez was organized at the end of 1858. On 25 April 1859 the first blow of the pickaxe was given by de Lesseps at Port Said. During the following ten years, de Lesseps had to overcome the continuing opposition of the British government preventing the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
from approving the construction of the canal and at one stage, he even had to seek the support of his cousin, Empress Eugenie to persuade the Emperor Napoleon III to act as arbitrator in the disputes. Finally, on 17 November 1869 the canal was officially opened by the Khedive
Khedive
The term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha , the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan, and vassal of the Ottoman Empire...
, Ismail Pasha.
While in the interests of his canal de Lesseps had resisted the opposition of British diplomacy to an enterprise which threatened to give to France control of the shortest route to India, he acted loyally towards Great Britain after Lord Beaconsfield
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, FRS, was a British Prime Minister, parliamentarian, Conservative statesman and literary figure. Starting from comparatively humble origins, he served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...
had acquired the Suez shares belonging to the Khedive, by frankly admitting to the board of directors of the company three representatives of the British government. The consolidation of interests which resulted, and which has been developed by the addition in 1884 of seven other British directors, chosen from among shipping merchants and business men, has augmented, for the benefit of all concerned, the commercial character of the enterprise.
De Lesseps steadily endeavored to keep out of politics. If in 1869 he appeared to deviate from this principle by being a candidate at Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
for the Corps Législatif, it was because he yielded to the entreaties of the Imperial government in order to strengthen its goodwill for the Suez Canal. Once this goodwill had been shown, he bore no malice towards those who rendered him his liberty by preferring Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
. Afterward, de Lesseps declined the other candidatures that were offered to him: for the Senate in 1876, and for the Chamber in 1877. In 1873 he became interested in a project for uniting Europe and Asia by a railway to Bombay, with a branch to Peking. The same year, he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
. He subsequently encouraged Major Roudaire, who wished to transform a stretch of the Sahara desert into an inland sea to increase rainfall in Algeria.
De Lesseps accepted the presidency of the French committee of Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...
's International African Society. From this position he facilitated Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza
Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà, best known as Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza , was a Franco-Italian explorer, born in Italy and later naturalized Frenchman...
's explorations, and acquired stations that he subsequently abandoned to the French government. These stations were the starting-point of French Congo
French Congo
The French Congo was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and the Central African Republic...
.
From 17 November 1899 to 23 December 1956, a monumental statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps by Emmanuel Frémiet
Emmanuel Frémiet
Emmanuel Frémiet was a French sculptor. He is famous for his sculpture of Joan of Arc in Paris and the monument to Ferdinand de Lesseps in Suez....
stood at the entrance of the Suez Canal.
Panama Canal attempt
In February, 1880, de Lesseps arrived in New York to raise money for the project. When he stayed at the Windsor Hotel, its staff flew the French flag in his honor. He met the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Geographic Society while touring the area. De Lesseps then went to Washington, met with President Rutherford Hayes, and testified to the House Interoceanic Canal Committee. He later went to Boston, Chicago, and several other American cities to raise interest and capital for the project.
De Lesseps went with his youngest child to Panama to see the planned pathway. He estimated in 1880 that the project would take 658 million francs and eight years to complete. After two years of surveys, work on the canal began in 1882. However, the technical difficulties of operating in the wet tropics dogged the project. Particularly disastrous were recurrent landslides into the excavations from the bordering water-saturated hills, and the death toll from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
. In the end, insufficient capital and financial corruption ended the project. The Panama Canal Company declared itself bankrupt in December 1888 and entered liquidation in February 1889.
The failure of the project is sometimes referred to as the Panama Canal Scandal, after rumors circulated that French politicians and journalists had received bribes. By 1892 it emerged that 150 French deputies had been bribed into voting for the allocation of financial aid to the Panama Canal Company, and in February 1893 de Lesseps, his son Charles (born 1849), and a number of others faced trial and were found guilty. De Lesseps was ordered to pay a fine and serve a prison sentence, but the latter was overturned by the Cour de Cassation
Court of Cassation (France)
The French Supreme Court of Judicature is France's court of last resort having jurisdiction over all matters triable in the judicial stream but only scope of review to determine a miscarriage of justice or certify a question of law based solely on points of law...
on the grounds that it had been more than three years since the crime was committed. Ultimately, in 1904 the United States bought out the assets of the Company and resumed work under a revised plan.
Second marriage and issue
In Paris on 25 November 1869 he married his second wife, MlleMiss
Miss is an English language honorific traditionally used only for an unmarried woman . Originating in the 17th century, it is a contraction of mistress, which was used for all women. A period is not used to signify the contraction...
Louise-Hélène Autard de Bragard.
She was born on the island of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
in 1848 at Plaines Wilhems and died on 29 January 1909 at Château de La Chesnay in Guilly
Guilly, Indre
Guilly is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
, Vatan, Indre
Vatan, Indre
Vatan is a commune in the Indre department in central France.The town holds a weekly market on Wednesdays.-References:* -Gallery:...
She was the daughter of Gustave Adolphe Autard de Bragard, a former Magistrate of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, and wife Marie-Louise Carcenac (1817–1857), daughter of Pierre Carcenac (1771–1819) and wife Marie Françoise Dessachis. Eleven of her twelve children with de Lesseps survived their father:
- Mathieu Marie de Lesseps (Paris, 12 October 1870 - Paris, 7 October 1953), married to ...
- Ferdinand-Ismaël de LessepsIsmaël de LessepsIsmaël de Lesseps was a French Olympic fencer. He competed in the individual and team sabre events at the 1908 Summer Olympics. He was the brother of Bertrand Marie de Lesseps.-References:...
(1871–1915) - Ferdinande de Lesseps (Paris, 3 December 1872 - Paris, 4 May 1948), married firstly in Paris on 10 May 1890 to Ferdinand de Gontaut-Biron (Paris, 11 November 1868 - Château de Kimpempois, 6 December 1898), of the Marquesses of Saint-Blacard, by whom she had a son Ferdinand de Gontaut-Biron (Paris, 25 January 1892 - Paris, 2 February 1892), and married secondly François-Joseph de Cassagne de Beaufort, Marquis de Miramon (1867–1932)
- Eugénie Marie de Lesseps (1873–1874)
- Bertrand de LessepsBertrand Marie de LessepsBertrand Marie de Lesseps was a French fencer. He competed in the individual and team sabre events at the 1908 Summer Olympics. He was the brother of Ismaël de Lesseps.-References:...
(1875–1918) - Marie Consuelo de Lesseps (1875–1944)
- Marie-Eugénie de Lesseps (1876–1958)
- Marie Solange de Lesseps (Château de La Chesnaye, GuillyGuilly, IndreGuilly is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
, Vatan, IndreVatan, IndreVatan is a commune in the Indre department in central France.The town holds a weekly market on Wednesdays.-References:* -Gallery:...
, 17 September 1877 - ?), married in Paris on 12 January 1910 to DonDon (honorific)Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Fernando Mexía y Fitz-James-Stuart (BiarritzBiarritzBiarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
, 22 October 1881 - ?), 6th DukeDukeA duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
of TamamesTamamesTamames is a municipality located in the province of Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 992 inhabitants....
, 3rd DukeDukeA duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
of Galisteo and 12th CountCountA count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
of MoraMora, SpainMora is a town and municipality in Toledo province, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. The area is most famous for the abandoned ruins of the San Marcos de Yegros monastery of the Order of Santiago, located northeast of the town of Mora about 10 km on the Calle de los...
, and had issue - Paul Marie de Lesseps (1880–1955)
- Robert de Lesseps (Paris, 23 May 1882 - KIAKilled in actionKilled in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...
World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, 1916), married February 27, 1902 to Marthe Josepha Sophie Allard (Ixelles, Brussels-Capital Region, 17 May 1884 - UccleUccleUccle or Ukkel is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium.Uccle is known for its well-to-do areas, its green spots and its high rental rates.-History:...
, Brussels-Capital Region, 19 July 1970), and had issue:- Nicole de Lesseps
- Robert Martin de Lesseps (Paris, 4 December 1915 - Neuilly-sur-SeineNeuilly-sur-SeineNeuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...
, 24 June 1981), married in London on 11 August 1945 to Beatrice Duggan (22 October 1922 -), and had issue:-
- Claire de Lesseps (b. Paris, 4 July 1956 -), married to Johann, Graf von Gudenus (b. WaidhofenWaidhofenWaidhofen may refer to the following places:* Waidhofen an der Ybbs, a town in Lower Austria, Austria* Waidhofen an der Thaya, a town in Lower Austria, Austria* Waidhofen an der Thaya-Land, a municipality in Lower Austria, Austria...
, 10 March 1952 -), and has issue, one son and two daughters
- Claire de Lesseps (b. Paris, 4 July 1956 -), married to Johann, Graf von Gudenus (b. Waidhofen
-
- Count Jacques Benjamin de LessepsJacques de LessepsJacques Benjamin de Lesseps was a French aviator born in Paris on 5 July 1883, killed in an air accident presumably on 18 October 1927 along with his flight engineer Theodor Chichenko. He was the son of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps...
(1883–1927), aviator, married Grace McKenzie 1911. - Gisele de Lesseps (12 December 1885 - 4 July 1973)
Statue of Liberty
On 11 June 1884, Levi P. MortonLevi P. Morton
Levi Parsons Morton was a Representative from New York and the 22nd Vice President of the United States . He also later served as the 31st Governor of New York.-Biography:...
, the Minister of the United States to France, gave a banquet in honor of the Franco-American Union and in celebration of the completion of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
. Ferdinand de Lesseps, as head of the Franco-American Union, formally presented the statue to the United States, saying:
This is the result of the devoted enthusiasm, the intelligence and the noblest sentiments which can inspire man. It is great in its conception, great in its execution, great in its proportions; let us hope that it will add, by its moral value, to the memories and sympathies that it is intended to perpetuate. We now transfer to you, Mr. Minister, this great statue and trust that it may forever stand the pledge of friendship between France and the Great Republic of the United States.
In October 1886, de Lesseps traveled to the United States to speak at the dedication ceremony of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
, attended by President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
.
Death
De Lesseps died at ChâteauChâteau
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
de La Chesnaye in Guilly
Guilly, Indre
Guilly is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
, Vatan, Indre
Vatan, Indre
Vatan is a commune in the Indre department in central France.The town holds a weekly market on Wednesdays.-References:* -Gallery:...
, on 7 December 1894. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
After his death
His name was used in a speech by Egyptian President Gamal Nasser as the codeword to order the raiding of the Suez Canal Company's offices on 26 July 1956, the first step to its nationalization. In the course of the raid and seizure of the canal by Nasser, the statue of de Lesseps at the entrance of the Suez Canal was removed from its pedestal, to symbolize the end of European ownership of the waterway. The statue now stands in a small garden of the Port Fouad shipyard.Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
played de Lesseps in the movie Suez
Suez (film)
Suez is a 1938 film account of the building of the Suez Canal by Ferdinand de Lesseps, played by Tyrone Power. It was so highly fictionalized that de Lesseps' descendants sued for libel....
(1938), a film over which de Lesseps' family sued for libel, claiming it was too highly fictionalized.
Ancestry
The origins of de Lesseps' family are traceable back as far as the end of the 14th century. His ancestors, it is believed, came from Spain, and settled at BayonneBayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
during the region's occupation by the English. One of his great-grandfathers, Pierre de Lesseps (Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
, 2 January 1690 – Bayonne, 20 August 1759), son of Bertrand Lesseps (1649–1708) and wife (m. 18 April 1675) Louise Fisson (1654–1690), was town clerk and at the same time secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
to Queen Anne of Neuberg, widow of Charles II of Spain
Charles II of Spain
Charles II was the last Habsburg King of Spain and the ruler of large parts of Italy, the Spanish territories in the Southern Low Countries, and Spain's overseas Empire, stretching from the Americas to the Spanish East Indies...
, exiled to Bayonne after the accession of Philip V, and married on 7 January 1715 his great-grandmother Catherine Fourcade (2 June 1690 – 22 August 1760), by whom he had fourteen children, six of whom died in childhood: Dominique de Lesseps (1715–1794), Pierre de Lesseps (1716 – ?), Marie de Lesseps (1717–1722), Arnaud de Lesseps (1719–1726), Jean-Barthélémy de Lesseps (1720–1795), Marcel de Lesseps (1720–1730), Jean-Pierre de Lesseps (1721 – 1721), Catherine de Lesseps, Gracy de Lesseps (1725–1791), Plaisance de Lesseps (1727–1735), Michel de Lesseps (1729–1801), married in 1769 to Florence Verdier (1739–1822) (parents of Louise Thérèse de Lesseps (1770–1866), married in 1788 to Mathieu Belland (1764–1817)), Martin de Lesseps (1730–1807), married to Anna Caysergues (1730–1823) and had issue, Jeanne de Lesseps (1733 – ?), married in 1759 to Alexandre Dubrocq, and Etiennette de Lesseps (1735 – ?), married in 1761 to Pierre Simonin.
From the middle of the 18th century the ancestors of de Lesseps followed diplomatic careers, and he himself occupied several diplomatic posts from 1825 to 1849. His uncle was ennobled by King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, and his father was made a count by Napoleon I
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
. His father, Mathieu de Lesseps (Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, 4 May 1774 – Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, 28 December 1832), was in the consular service; his mother, Catherine de Grévigné (Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, 11 June 1774 – Paris, 27 January 1853, was Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
on her mother's side, and aunt of the countess of Montijo, mother of the empress Eugénie. She was a daughter of Henri Grevigné (baptised Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts, Liège, 2 June 1744) and wife (m. Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, 1766) Francisca Antonia Gallegos (1751–1853).
See also
- Lesseps metro station in the Barcelona MetroBarcelona MetroThe Barcelona Metro , part of the public transportation system of Barcelona, Catalonia, is an extensive network of electrified railways that run underground in central Barcelona and above ground into the city's suburbs. Since July 31, 2010, Barcelona Metro system consists of 11 lines with 165...
- Fort De Lesseps named in his honor
Further reading
- Smith, G Barnett The Life and Enterprises of Ferdinand de Lesseps (London, 1893)
- de Lesseps, Ferdinand, Souvenirs de quarante ans (trans. by CB Pitman).
- McCullough, David, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914 Simon and Schuster, 1977.
- Mellander, Gustavo A. (1971) The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Danville, Ill.: Interstate Publishers. OCLC 138568.
- Mellander, Gustavo A.; Nelly Maldonado Mellander (1999). Charles Edward Magoon: The Panama Years. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor. ISBN 1-56328-155-4. OCLC 42970390.
- Parker, Matthew. Panama Fever: The Epic Story of One of the Greatest Human Achievements of All Time – the Building of the Panama Canal. New York: Doubleday,
- Simon, Maron J. The Panama Affair Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971.
External links
- Ferdinand de Lesseps (1887). Recollections of forty years. Volume 1. Volume 2. From Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. - André GillAndré GillAndré Gill was a French caricaturist. Born Louis-Alexandre Gosset de Guînes at Paris, the son of the Comte de Guînes and Sylvie-Adeline Gosset, he studied at this city's Academy of Fine Arts. He adopted the pseudonym André Gill in homage to his hero, James Gillray. Gill began illustrating for...
(1867). "Ferdinand de Lesseps", caricature painting of Ferdinand de Lesseps. - The Delesseps Family: This page focuses on Vicount de Lesseps' family
- The A.B. Nichols archival collection of documents and materials related to the Panama Canal includes a number of references to the French project, including photographs of de Lesseps and his house in Panama.
- Associació de Veïns i Comerciants de la Plaça Lesseps, Gràcia, Barcelona, Catalonia