<human>:  Describe the construction of the Suez Canal.
<bot>: The Suez Canal is a man-made waterway in Egypt that connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. It was constructed by French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps over a ten-year period beginning in 1859 and was officially opened in November 1869. The canal was constructed by cutting through a barren desert, with labor provided largely by Egyptian and other workers. This included digging the 164-kilometer long, 24-meter deep canal, and the creation of two main channels, two secondary channels and several small harbors. The canal, which varies between 30 and 50 meters in width, helped drastically reduce the voyage time for ships traveling between the Mediterranean Sea and the Far East by about 8,000 kilometers.