Social Studies | College Essays | The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a man-made waterway that cuts through the Isthmus of Panama and connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The canal shortens the time it takes to reach either ocean from the other by about two weeks. It shaves over 7000 miles of South American coastline off the trip.

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The Panama Canal

A college essay
by Cheryl Carroll
15 October 2013

The Panama Canal is a man-made waterway that cuts through the Isthmus of Panama and connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The idea for a crossing came about early in the 16th century, but the actual working canal wasn't completed until 1914--nearly 400 years later. The canal shortens the time it takes to reach either ocean from the other by about two weeks. It shaves over 7000 miles of South American coastline off the trip.

The Isthmus of Panama is 48 miles wide at its narrowest point. In the early 1500s there was a strong desire to build a canal across it. Although the distance was short, ideas were plentiful, and a working plan was actually drawn up, the capability to dig such a canal simply did not exist. A seven foot wide road, known as The Camino Real de Panama, was eventually built instead. It took a mere four to five days to cross the isthmus along this road, making the Camino Real a vital transport route. It was, however, an extremely treacherous journey, and goods could only be carried by mules because of mountainous slopes, muddy ground, and numerous river crossings.

Additional proposals for the canal were made in the 1600s and 1700s, but nothing ever came of them. In the early 1800s, American interest in building the canal was very strong. President Andrew Jackson sent U.S. Army Colonel Charles Biddle to look over the area and determine if Panama was the best location for the canal. Nicaragua had been suggested as a much easier route. Biddle determined that Panama was a wild jungle and building a canal there was impractical.

Throughout the 1800s various plans and proposals were made and agreements reached until finally, in 1881, a construction contract was signed between the Colombian government and a French company headed by the builder of the Suez Canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps. The Panama Canal, however, proved to be a much bigger challenge than the Suez Canal.

In 1880, de Lesseps estimated the project would take eight years to complete, but in eight years time, his Panama Canal Company would declare bankruptcy, with hardly anything to show for all the work and the considerable amount of money put into building the canal. Frequent mudslides and vicious epidemics of malaria and yellow fever had plagued the efforts almost from the start. Political corruption was also a major contributor to the failure of the company.

In 1903, a treaty between the United States and Colombia concerning the building rights to the canal was rejected by the Colombian government. Panama, which had joined with Colombia in declaring independence from Spain in 1821, had been trying to become an independent nation themselves, but were meeting with heavy resistance. Wanting to secure the canal zone, the United States decided to help Panama with this struggle. Panama had staged several unsuccessful revolts over the years, but this time, on November 3 of 1903, with the United States backing them, they were able to win their independence and become the Republic of Panama. The United States immediately negotiated a treaty with the new republic, which granted the U.S. a 10-mile-wide strip of land across the isthmus for the canal.

Preparations for the construction of the canal began in 1904. A lot of excavation had already been done, a railroad had been constructed, and buildings for housing workers were in place. This was somewhat helpful, but nearly everything was in disrepair. The U.S. was essentially starting from scratch. It was also necessary to rid the area of mosquitoes, which had recently been discovered to be the carriers of malaria and yellow fever. This took considerable effort, but the measures taken eventually eliminated the threat of the disease. In 1905, the decision to go with a lock-base scheme was made. Up until then the plan had been for a sea-level canal.

Years of excavation, along with the building of four dams and the creating of two lakes, preceded the first concrete being laid for the locks in 1909. The project was completed in 1913 and the first official transit of the canal was in August of 1914.

Over the next sixty years, in spite of the fact that the United States and the Republic of Panama had come together to create such an engineering marvel, relations between the two nations were strained at best. This prompted U.S. President Jimmy Carter to sign the Torrijos-Carter Treaty in September of 1977. Beginning in 1979, the U.S. would gradually hand over control of the canal to Panama, with Panama having complete responsibility for it by December of 1999.

An entire century has passed since the first test ship made its run through the canal. In 2007, Panama began an expansion project, expected to be completed in 2015. Two new sets of locks are planned, which would effectively double the capacity of the canal. The new Panama Canal will allow much larger ships to pass, which promises to ensure the canal remains one of the world's most valuable trade routes.

Bibliography

latinamericanstudies.org n.d.

Rolt Hammond, C.J. Autor Lewin. The Panama Canal. Frederick Muller, 1966

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