preview

Panama Canal

Decent Essays

The Panamá Canal is a man-made 48-mile waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. The idea of creating a water passage across the famous isthmus of Panama to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans dates back to at least the 1500s to 1600s , when Charles the king of spain t tapped his regional governor to survey a route along the Chagres River. This route at the time seemed as if it was not going to work out well but ended up being one of the most important trading canals in all of history in the last five centuries. The men behind the Suez Canal and Eiffel Tower were convicted in connection with failed effort to build a canal.There were a few nations that would go ahead and try to build the panama canal but they did not succeed. French company headed by Ferdinand de Lesseps, a former diplomat who developed Egypt’s Suez Canal, began digging a canal across Panama. The project was plagued by poor planning, engineering problems and tropical diseases that killed thousands of workers. (Elizabeth Wix, History.com) Yes that is correct, there were over 25,000 people killed during the construction of the Panama canal. Besided the poor working conditions many people were killed by what is …show more content…

The new plans to remodel the Panama Canal are projected to cost over 5.25 billion US dollars. (Greenberg, Peter Peter Greenberg.com) the Panama Canal was the engineering marvel of its time. The 48-mile canal shortened the trip between San Francisco and New York by 8,000 nautical miles, changing the way goods and services across the globe. Right now, up to 40 ships a day transit the canal, saving ships an average of 29 days at sea. However, there is still a backlog of ships each day that wait to make the journey across the

Get Access