The Greatest Work in Engineering - The Panama Canal

 

Source: Researchgate

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The Panama Canal is situated in Panama and it passes through its isthmus. This canal is artificially made and connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. The artificial waterway is 77km long.

 

What Is an Isthmus?

An isthmus is a small or a quite narrow strip of land that connects two large portions of land which water on both sides.

 

The History

The initial interest in the Panama isthmus began in the year 1534. King Charles V Spain’s emperor at the time ordered to survey to find out the possibilities to build a canal.

The canal would prove beneficial to Spain to conduct trade from Peru to Spain and would also provide an advantage to its military. Many plans were prepared but none were put into action due to the circumstances at the time.

Why Was the Canal Built?

Before the Panama Canal was built commercial ships going between New York to San Francisco or vice versa had to travel 12000 miles to get there. Ships had to travel from South America to get to their destination. This resulted in a very expensive voyage.

After the canal was built ships had to travel only 4000 miles and it also saved a lot of time, energy and money. Roosevelt wanted to build the canal to shorten the naval ships travel path. But after the canal was built it proved to be very beneficial for military purposes.

 

Who builds the Panama Canal?

The French Attempt

To make the voyage and trade easier the French in the year, 1881  began the construction of the canal under the guidance of diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps.

Ferdinand de Lesseps was confident about the success of the Panama Canal project as he had successfully built the Canal of Suez but to his misfortune, this project was a complete failure.

There were multiple reasons why the project failed e.g. High expenses, issues with engineering, bad weather and even deaths of workers due to yellow fever and malaria cause the project to collapse completely.

This caused the company to go bankrupt. Hence the construction was called off mid-way. In the year 1902, the French company sold the Panama Canal rights to the U.S.

 

The American attempt

In the year 1904, the American’s restarted the project under the guidance of the president of the time Theodore Roosevelt. The construction started and this time it was completed as well. The canal was finally built in the year 1914 and was one of Americas greatest achievements. Hence the American attempt was a success.

 

How did the U.S get the right to access Panama?

At first, the U.S tried its best to negotiate with Colombia as it owned Panama. After the negotiations did not work out the U.S-supported Panama to get independence from Columbia. Panama finally got its independence from Columbia in 1903 after which they signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty with the U.S.

In the treaty, the US agreed to pay $10 million as an incessant lease for the use of land and they also paid $250,000 as annually rent.

 

Here’s how the Panama Canal map looks

The Total Cost

The French spend a total of $287 million at the time before the Panama Canal project was called off.

The Americas spend a total of $375 million on the canal at the time. Along with the construction cost US also paid $10 million to Panama, $40 million to the French company and $12 million for other reinforcements. It was one of the most expensive projects for the U.S.

 

The Protests

The protests regarding the sovereignty of the Panama Canal started on 2nd May 1958. Here's a timeline of how the protests took place.

1958-On 2nd may the Panama University students who were a part of the Panamanian union started planting their flags in the Canal Zone.

1959-During the Independence Day celebration of Panama more anti-American riots took place where the mobs attacked U.S information agency, U.S embassy and many other U.S-owned businesses.

They even went to the Canal Zone and tried to forcefully enter The inside to plant their flag there, because both the U.S troops and the Panamanian mob’s used forces. 40 Panamanian were wounded.

1960- To seek out the issue and ease the tension on 17th December the 34th president of the United States Dwight d. Eisenhower gave orders that both the flags must be flown inside the Canal Zone. In spite of the announcement, issues continued between both the U.S citizens privileges and the Panamanian citizens.

1964-More riots broke out when the American students studying at the zones Balboa high school completely refused to fly the Panamanian flag completely dismissing the U.S policy.

On 9th January protesters had a confrontation with the U.S high school students and the residents of the zone. This resulted in more attacks on the U.S-owned business.

The national guard of Panama refused to interfere in the matter and the U.S troops fought rough snipers. This resulted in serious casualties on both the sides.

1977-The Panamanian nation guard removed the privileges of the U.S zones and the U.S ultimately decided to give up control over the canal. This ultimate resolved the tension.

Today the U.S does not control the zone but still conducts operations in the Panama Canal.

 

The Working of the Canal

The canal is like an artificial river it is built across the surface of the isthmus. To get to the other side of the canal the ship has to go over the isthmus surface. While crossing the canal system the ship is elevated above the sea to a height of 85 feet.

The Panama Canal system ha locks built like elevating steps. These steps allow ships to move upwards and downwards with ease. Due to which all the ships can maintain their level and avoid mishaps. There are six steps in total. Three go upward and the other three go downward.

The Conclusion

Because of its intense history, high benefits and its advance and one of kind engineering the Panama Canal remains one of the world’s best engineering works.

 

Written by - Lirica Machado.

 Edited by – Adrija Saha