Panama Canal- Connecting the Oceans.
A short history on the most famous canal of our time. An engineering marvel.
Panama Canal links Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is about 51 miles in length. It was cut through one of the narrowest and lowest sections of the long, mountainous Isthmus that joins North & South America.
The average ship takes 9 hours to transit the canal. The short cut greatly reduced the time for the ships to travel between the two oceans. For instance a ship travelling from New York to San Francisco can save 7872 miles using the canal instead of going around the tip of South America.
It is undoubtedly one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever taken. The American Society of Civil Engineers has ranked the Panama Canal as one the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
Way back in 1534 King Charles V ordered a study of feasibility of a canal connecting the oceans. Events in Europe intervened and the study was never carried out. Eventually France began work on the canal in 1881 and in 1885 The French company Campagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique started work on the canal through Panama.
Ferdinand Lesseps who was responsible for the completion of the Suez Canal that joined Mediterranean and Red sea, thereby substantially reducing the sailing time from Europe and East Asia. He was known as the ‘ Hero of the Suez’. He attempted to build the canal at sea level but the project was stopped because of engineering and financial problems. It was also devastated by epidemics of Malaria and Yellow Fever which led to high deaths among the workers.
The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15th 1914. Initially when the United States showed interest, there were 2 major trade routes under consideration, one through Panama and other through Nicaragua. In 1897 and 1899 two fact finding commission appointed by the United States Congress recommended the Nicaragua route.
But strong lobbying by France’s New Panama Canal company saw Congress pass an amendment to a bill that would allow the President to acquire the French company’s Panama property at a concessional cost and further to acquire from Colombia perpetual control of a canal zone. If the title and an agreement with Colombia could not be reached in a reasonable period of time, the President was authorized with a canal at Nicaragua.
John Frank Stevens was considered the mastermind behind the canal. He had built the Great Northern Railway and was the Chief Engineer of the project from 1905-07. He was credited for building the necessary infrastructure that led to the speedy completion of the project.
US President Theodore Roosevelt, helped the Republic of Panama to gain independence and received the lease of land around the ‘Canal Zone’ to build the Canal. An artificial lake was formed by the canal- Gatun Lake. At the time of canal’s construction it was the largest artificial lake in the world.
On October 1st 1979, two new treaties between Panama and the United States went into effect concerning the management, operation and defence of the Panama Canal. The commission ran the canal for 20 years training and guiding the government of Panama to take control. On December 31st 1999, the United States government transferred the Canal to Panama to be controlled by the Panama Canal Authority.