biography
| name: |
Lesseps, Ferdinand (Marie), vicomte de (Viscount of)
|
pronunciation:
[leseeps]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1805–94)
|
| biography:
| French diplomat and entrepreneur, born in Versailles, NC France. From 1825 he held various diplomatic posts, and in 1854 began his campaign for the construction of a Suez Canal. The works started in 1859, and were completed in 1869. In 1881 his ambitious scheme for a sea-level Panama Canal commenced, but had to be abandoned in 1888. His company was subsequently charged with breach of trust, and Lesseps, then elderly, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment; but the sentence was reversed, and did little to ruin his esteem. He wrote Histoire du canal de Suez (1875–9, History of the Suez Canal), and a biography. |
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