Austria lay on the Adriatic Sea. To conduct overseas trade, it had to make a circuit around the Italian Peninsula, then pass through the Strait of Gibraltar before it could leave the Mediterranean Sea.
Whether in terms of distance or safety, this route was far from reliable. For future development, securing a safe sea route out of the Mediterranean Sea was of paramount importance.
As early as four years ago, Franz had proposed digging the Suez Canal and dispatched a team of experts to conduct on-site surveys.
As for the masters of this region—the Egyptian Government and its suzerain—regrettably, the Vienna Government had forgotten to inform them.
After confirming the project was technically feasible, the Austrian Government stepped up its infiltration of Egypt. Franz knew his own limits well. Rather than competing with Britain and France for territory in Cairo, he set his sights on the Sinai Peninsula.
Not to mention this era—even in the twenty-first century, the Sinai Peninsula remained Egypt's most backward region. At present, it was even regarded by the public as an island of desert.
The peninsula was dry and received little rain. Most of it was desert, and its inhabitants had made their living raising camels for generations.
Before the Age of Exploration, this had also been a trade route linking the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. By selling camels to passing merchants and travelers, the locals had once managed to get by.
From the beginning of the nineteenth century, Egypt began its struggle for independence, cutting off the trade route with the Ottoman Empire. The region then declined completely.
Across the 61,000 square kilometers of the Sinai Peninsula, there were fewer than thirty thousand permanent residents. Its largest city, Al Arish, could not compare to a small Austrian town; even the newly established colonial outposts