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 Read the text section by section
 Highlight the main ideas/key facts for each section
 For each section place a * next to the following: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How.
7 Fascinating Facts about the Panama Canal
By Elizabeth Nix August 15, 2014
August 15, 1914, marks the 100th anniversary of the official opening of the
Panama Canal, the American-built waterway across the Isthmus of Panama that
connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The 50-mile-long passage created an
important shortcut for ships; after the canal was constructed, a vessel sailing
between New York and California was able to bypass the long journey around
the tip of South America and trim nearly 8,000 miles from its voyage. The canal,
which uses a system of locks to lift ships 85 feet above sea level, was the largest
engineering project of its time
1. The idea for a canal across Panama dates back to the 16th century.
In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa became the first European to discover that the Isthmus of Panama was just a slim
land bridge separating the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Balboa’s discovery sparked a search for a natural waterway linking the two
oceans. In 1534, after no such passage across the isthmus had been found, Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, ordered a survey to
determine if one could be built, but the surveyors eventually decided that construction of a ship canal was impossible.
2. The men behind the Suez Canal and Eiffel Tower were convicted in connection with failed effort to build a canal.
In the ensuing centuries, various nations considered developing a Panamanian canal but a serious attempt wasn’t made until the
1880s. In 1881, a 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. De Lesseps intended to build the canal at sea level, without locks, like the Suez Canal, but the excavation
process proved far more difficult than anticipated. Gustave Eiffel, who designed the famous tower in Paris that bears his name, was
then hired to create locks for the canal; however, the De Lesseps-led company went bankrupt in 1889. At the time, the French had
sunk more than $260 million into the canal venture and excavated more than 70 million cubic yards of earth.
The canal venture’s collapse caused a major scandal in France. De Lesseps and his son Charles, along with Eiffel and several other
company executives, were indicted on fraud and mismanagement charges. In 1893, the men were found guilty, sentenced to prison
and fined, although the sentences were overturned. After the scandal, Eiffel retired from business and devoted himself to scientific
research; Ferdinand de Lesseps died in 1894. That same year, a new French company was formed to take over the assets of the
bankrupt business and continue the canal; however, this second firm soon abandoned the endeavor as well.
3. America originally wanted to build a canal in Nicaragua, not Panama.
Throughout the 1800s, the United States, which wanted a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific for economic and military reasons,
considered Nicaragua a more feasible location than Panama. However, that view shifted thanks in part to the efforts of Philippe-Jean
Bunau-Varilla, a French engineer who had been involved in both of France’s canal projects. In the late 1890s Bunau-Varilla began
lobbying American lawmakers to buy the French canal assets in Panama, and eventually convinced a number of them that Nicaragua
had dangerous volcanoes, making Panama the safer choice.
In 1902, Congress authorized the purchase of the French assets. However, the following year, when Colombia, which Panama was
then a part of, refused to ratify an agreement allowing the United States to build a canal, the Panamanians, with encouragement from
Bunau-Varilla and tacit approval from President Theodore Roosevelt, revolted against Colombia and declared Panama’s
independence. Soon afterward, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay, and Bunau-Varilla, acting as a representative of Panama’s
provisional government, negotiated the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, which gave America the right to a zone of more than 500 square
miles in which it could construct a canal; the Canal Zone was to be controlled in perpetuity by the Americans. All told, the United States
would shell out some $375 million to build the canal, which included a $10 million payment to Panama as a condition of the 1903 treaty,
and $40 million to buy the French assets.
A century after the United States completed the Panama Canal, a navigable link across Nicaragua remains a possibility: In 2013, a
Chinese company announced it had struck a $40 billion deal with the Nicaraguan government for the rights to construct such a
waterway.
4. More than 25,000 workers died during the canal’s construction.
The canal builders had to contend with a variety of obstacles, including challenging terrain, hot, humid weather, heavy rainfall and
rampant tropical diseases. The earlier French attempts had led to the deaths of more than 20,000 workers and America’s efforts fared
little better; between 1904 and 1913 some 5,600 workers died due to disease or accidents.
Many of these earlier deaths had been caused by yellow fever and malaria; diseases that the medical community at the time believed
were caused by bad air and dirty conditions. By the early 20th century, however, medical experts better understood the role of
mosquitoes as carriers for these diseases, allowing them to significantly reduce the number of deaths among canal workers, thanks to
a host of sanitation measures that included draining areas with standing water, removing possible insect breeding grounds and
installing window screens in buildings.
5. Between 13,000 and 14,000 ships use the canal every year.
American ships use the canal the most, followed by those from China, Chile, Japan, Colombia
and South Korea. Every vessel that transits the canal must pay a toll based on its size and
cargo volume. Tolls for the largest ships can run about $450,000. The smallest toll ever paid
was 36 cents, plunked down in 1928 by American adventurer Richard Halliburton, who swam
the canal. Today, some $1.8 billion in tolls are collected annually.
On average, it takes a ship 8 to 10 hours to pass through the canal. While moving through it, a
system of locks raises each ship 85 feet above sea level. Ship captains aren’t allowed to
transit the canal on their own;, a specially trained canal pilot takes navigational control of each
vessel to guide it through the waterway. In 2010, the 1 millionth vessel crossed the canal.
6. The United States transferred control of the canal to Panama in 1999.
In the years after the canal opened, tensions increased between America and Panama over control of the canal and the surrounding
Canal Zone. In 1964, Panamanians rioted after being prevented from flying their nation’s flag next to a U.S. flag in the Canal Zone. In
the aftermath of the violence, Panama temporarily broke off diplomatic relations with the United States. In 1977, President Jimmy
Carter and General Omar Torrijos of Panama signed treaties that transferred control of the canal to Panama in 1999 but gave the
United States the right to use military force to defend the waterway against any threat to its neutrality. Despite opposition by a number
of politicians who didn’t want their country to give up its authority over the canal, the U.S. Senate ratified the Torrijos-Carter Treaties by
a narrow margin in 1978. Control of the canal was transferred peacefully to Panama in December 1999, and the Panamanians have
been responsible for it ever since.
7. The canal is being expanded to handle today’s megaships.
In 2007, work began on a $5.25 billion expansion project that will enable the canal to handle post-Panamax ships; that is, those
exceeding the dimensions of so-called Panamax vessels, built to fit through the canal, whose locks are 110 feet wide and 1,000 feet
long. The expanded canal will be able to handle cargo vessels carrying 14,000 20-foot containers, nearly three times the amount
currently accommodated. The expansion project, expected to be completed in late 2015, includes the creation of a new, larger set of
locks and the widening and deepening of existing navigational channels. However, while the new locks will be able to fit many modern
ships, they still won’t be super-sized
enough for some vessels, such as
Maersk’s Triple E class ships, the
planet’s biggest container ships,
which measure 194 feet wide and
1,312 feet long, with a capacity of
18,000 20-foot containers.
Did You Know? Some 52 million
gallons of fresh water are used each
time a ship makes a trip through the
Panama Canal. The water comes
from Gatun Lake, which was formed
during the canal’s construction by
damning the Chagres River. With an
area of more than 163 square miles,
Gatun Lake was once the world’s
largest made-man lake.
Panama Canal Questions-Answer in complete sentences using details from the
text.
1) What is an Isthmus? Why would the Isthmus of Panama be considered an
important strategic place?
2) How did the canal engineers use their knowledge of geography and science
to overcome the challenges of building the canal? What happened to the
original French builders that started the canal?
3) What were the major causes of death for the canal workers? How did they fix these problems?
4) How did the USA get the canal? What events occurred as a result of the USA’s actions? Why was it so
important to the USA to control the canal? Why is the USA no longer in charge? How will giving over control
impact the USA?
5) What counties use the canal the most? What do these countries have in common? How might this change?
6) How does the canal make money? How much money does the canal currently make? How much will it cost to
expand the canal? Based on the money the canal makes now is expanding it worth the effort (support your
answer)?