Mahatma Gandhi
93% Profile Match
Photo: Nadar (Felix Tournachon), 1872-1876, Rijksmuseum RP-F-F80162, public domain, resized from the original · Wikimedia Commons file sourced from the Rijksmuseum: Woodburytype after a photograph by Nadar, 1872-1876, from the Galerie Contemporaine (1876); downscaled from 3028 x 3608 pixels to 1007 x 1200 with no cropping · Public domain
entrepreneur · 19th Century
Ferdinand de Lesseps
1805–1894
Known For
engineeringentrepreneurialhistorical
Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.
Trait Constellation
Key Achievements
Obtained the 1854 concession from Said Pasha and led the company that built the Suez Canal, a roughly 160 km sea-level canal opened on 17 November 1869.
Financed it by public subscription: the 1858 share offering raised 100 million francs from about 20,000 investors, mainly French, without major bank support.
From 1879 headed the French company's Panama Canal attempt, which he endorsed as a sea-level canal; it went bankrupt and was liquidated in 1888-89, and the canal was later completed under US control.
Moments That Reveal Them
After the Ottoman court and Prime Minister Palmerston refused to back the Suez project in 1855, he took his case to British chambers of commerce, and in 1858 a share offering raised 100 million francs from about 20,000 investors.
This is consistent with a person who answered official refusal by taking his case directly to the public. Persuasiveness
At the 1879 Paris congress a senior French engineer called a sea-level Panama canal unrealistic, yet on his second visit in 1886, four years into the excavation, he still insisted it must be a sea-level canal.
This is consistent with holding to a chosen plan against expert objections and early results. Belief Updating
Turning Points
After leaving diplomacy in 1849 and about five years of semi-retirement, he travelled to Cairo in 1854 when his old friend Said became Viceroy, and received the concession that launched the Suez Canal.
This is consistent with a career redirected by taking up a long project after a setback. Persistence
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Sources
- Ferdinand de Lesseps (Q209169), verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-10-31): label 'Ferdinand de Lesseps', description 'French diplomat and entrepreneur, developer of the Suez Canal (1805-1894)', born 1805-11-19, died 1894-12-07, Korean label present. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Fondation Napoleon, biography 'Lesseps, Ferdinand de' (English edition), read in full: an institutional history of the Second Empire and its figures that traces how he obtained the 1854 concession from Said, failed to win Ottoman approval in 1855 and failed to persuade Palmerston, raised 100 million francs from about 20,000 investors in 1858 without major bank backing, replaced forced labour with European workers and machinery after the new Viceroy halted work in 1864, appealed to Napoleon III's arbitration, the 1869 opening, his 1884 election to the Academie francaise, and the Panama concession, failure and 1893 sentence. CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE: a historical foundation's standard biography. Written from the French imperial-history standpoint and sympathetic in tone.
- EBSCO Research Starters, 'Ferdinand de Lesseps', read in full: a scholarly-style encyclopedia biography noting that he was a career diplomat with no engineering training, that he returned to the Suez project in 1854 at the invitation of the Viceroy, that roughly half the capital came from French investors, the 1869 opening of the roughly 160 km sea-level canal, the 1879 Paris congress where he won over the audience while a senior French engineer warned of disease and rejected the sea-level design, and the Panama bankruptcy of 1889 with heavy loss of life; it is openly critical of the sea-level decision and cites the Cameron and Karabell books as more and less generous assessments. A single-author overview that does not describe the Panama trial outcomes.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, eleventh edition (1911), entry 'Lesseps, Ferdinand de' (Wikisource transcription), read in full: dated career from vice-consul at Lisbon in 1825 through the 1854 concession, the 1856 international commission of engineers, the 1858 company with about 200 million francs of capital, the first pickaxe blow at Port Said on 25 April 1859 and the opening on 17 November 1869, his later projects, and the Panama venture he undertook at 74 and insisted on building without locks despite objections, wound up in December 1888 with the prosecution of him and his son. Period reference work (early 20th century) with an admiring tone; used for dates and outline.
- Grace's Guide to British Industrial History, 'Ferdinand de Lesseps' (reproducing a 1895 obituary and later notes), read in full: records that Palmerston called the scheme a bubble, that he toured Britain (reportedly 32 meetings in 45 days), that he relied on persuasion and publicity while the engineering was done largely by others (Linant Bey, Mougel Bey, independent commissions), contemporary judgments including John Hawkshaw's 1863 report and Gambetta's 'Le Grand Francais', Suez traffic rising from 486 vessels in 1870 to 3,389 in 1890, and the Panama estimate of 658 million francs and eight years, the 1888 bankruptcy and the trial; it states that the obituary and the main article disagree on whether the sentence was served or overturned. British engineering-heritage source, partly period obituary text.
- History.com (A&E Television Networks), '7 Fascinating Facts About the Panama Canal', read in full: popular-history article stating that he intended a sea-level canal like Suez, that excavation proved far harder than expected, that Gustave Eiffel was later hired to design locks, that the French attempts caused more than 20,000 deaths, that the company went bankrupt in 1889 after investing more than 260 million dollars, and that he, his son and others were convicted in 1893 with sentences later overturned. General-audience summary; used only for the outline of the failure.
- Linda Hall Library digital exhibition 'The Land Divided, The World United', pages 'The French Plan' and 'The French Attempt', both read in full: a science and engineering library's account of the 1879 Paris congress where the sea-level plan he endorsed was approved, the objection of the chief engineer of the French Department of Bridges and Highways that a sea-level plan was completely unrealistic (he proposed locks and lakes), the statement that on his second visit in 1886 he continued to insist on a sea-level canal, and the 1889 liquidation. Independent institutional source; says little about his personal conduct and nothing about the 1887 lock decision.
- Rijksmuseum, 'Portret van Ferdinand de Lesseps' (object RP-F-F80162): Woodburytype after a photograph by Nadar, 1872-1876, from the Galerie Contemporaine (1876); the museum page gives the copyright status as Public domain (Public Domain Mark 1.0). Used only for the portrait record; not used as support for any row.