This weekend, as I watched the sun set in the eastern part of Egypt, I could almost feel the history that had played out on the horizon. I was sitting on the edge of the Suez Canal, created at the height of British and French imperialism. And beyond that, there are thousands of years of history right here on the banks of this waterway.

Building of a canal began between the Nile River and the Mediterranean River in the 13th century, but lack of use and the quick buildup of sediments closed it by the 18th century. Then, from 1859 to 1869, the canal was rebuilt under the supervision of a Frenchman named Ferdinand de Lesseps.

It has been said that 1.5 millions Egyptians worked on the canal in slave-like conditions, and it is estimated 125,000 died during the process.

The opening of the Suez Canal, which came with an elaborate ceremony Nov. 17, 1869, had a huge impact on world trade. Not only did it physically separate Asia from Africa, it allowed European powers easier access to the coast of Africa. When the ruler of Egypt, Isma’il Pasha, was forced to sell the canal to the United Kingdom because of massive debt, the British moved their military in to protect the canal.

The name of the nearest main road to my residence in Cairo is called “26 of July Road,” after the day that Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and his new government nationalized the canal, a move that resulted in the invasion of Egypt by Britain, France and Israel. The United Nations declared the canal Egypt’s property. Since then, various wars have been fought over the canal, and it has been used as a border to fighting many times.

As I sat and watched ship after ship sail past, I could only imagine the thousands of workers dying, the wars being fought and British and French imperialism at their best. The canal was not only a way for the British and French to continue to control and ruin the Middle East, but it also a gateway of destruction to the rest of Africa.

When the Suez Canal was under British control, European powers were able to colonize the eastern coast of Africa much more easily — sailing between Asia and Africa rather than around the Horn of Africa.

The Suez Canal shortens the distance between “East” and “West” by up to 86 percent. The distance between Tokyo and Rotterdam is shortened by 23 percent. The canal sees 14 percent of the world’s cargo, or 444 million tons, and about 20,000 ships a year.

I sat along the canal until a polite tourist policeman asked me if I wanted to take a ferry across so that I could say I’ve crossed the Suez. I said I’d love to, and he even let me hold the steering column on the ferry as we plowed ahead. We had to wait several minutes as a Japanese cargo ship went past.

I just had to sit and wonder: How different would the continent of Africa, and ultimately the world, have been if the canal would not have been used to colonize and rape Africa of its natural resources and ravage its people. India, and the entire East, were also dramatically affected by the opening of the canal.

As I sat and watched the sunset on British and French imperialism, I wish I could say that it had set on all imperialism.