# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/ferdinand-de-lesseps
# Generated: 2026-08-31T17:36:45.427Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/ferdinand-de-lesseps"
name: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
slug: "ferdinand-de-lesseps"
description: "He cut a ditch through Egypt that bent global trade routes, then bet he could do it again in Panama and lost everything to mosquitoes and math."
tagline: "French diplomat and entrepreneur, developer of the Suez Canal (1805–1894)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Retrato_de_Ferdinand_de_Lesseps%2C_por_Felix_Nadar.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "France"
  isoCode: "FR"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Public Official"
  slug: "public-official"
birthDate: "1805-11-19"
deathDate: "1894-12-07"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.3
  momentum:             10
  historical:           23.60360133333334
  currentAttention:     30.76923076923077
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  75
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Diplomacy"
    slug: "diplomacy"
  - name: "France"
    slug: "france"
  - name: "Europe"
    slug: "europe"
  - name: "19th Century"
    slug: "19th-century"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/ch0053883/"
    handle:    "ch0053883"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q209169"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Ferdinand%20de%20Lesseps"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AF_%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%B3"
    title: "فرديناد ديليسبس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4_%D0%B4%D1%8C%D0%BE_%D0%9B%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BF%D1%81"
    title: "Фердинанд дьо Лесепс"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A6%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BD%CE%AC%CE%BD_%CE%9B%CE%B5%CF%83%CF%83%CE%AD%CF%88"
    title: "Φερντινάν Λεσσέψ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marie_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand Marie Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%AF%D9%88_%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B3%D9%BE%D8%B3"
    title: "فردینان دو لیسپس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marie_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand Marie Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A0%D7%93_%D7%93%D7%94_%D7%9C%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A1"
    title: "פרדיננד דה לספס"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AB%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A1_%E0%A4%A1%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%AA"
    title: "फर्डिनेंड डी लेसप"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%96%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%A4%D5%AB%D5%B6%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%A4%D5%A8_%D4%BC%D5%A5%D5%BD%D5%A5%D5%BA%D5%BD"
    title: "Ֆերդինան դը Լեսեպս"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://sk.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Lesseps"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps"
    title: "Ferdinand de Lesseps"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%AF%D9%88_%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%B3"
    title: "فردينان دو ليسبس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps was a French diplomat who turned developer and in 1869 delivered the Suez Canal, joining the Mediterranean and Red Seas and collapsing the voyage from Europe to East Asia. The triumph made him attempt the same in Panama during the 1880s, this time at sea level. Malaria and yellow fever tore through the workforce, the money collapsed, and the canal was never finished. The United States bought the wreckage, redesigned it with locks instead of his flat-water vision, and opened it in 1914. He died in 1894, seven months short of his eighty-ninth birthday.