History Of The Panal Canal Essay, Research Paper

The History of the Panama Canal

The idea of constructing a short route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean began in the early 16th Century. The first plan for a canal came from Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who ordered a survey of the Isthmus in 1532. Plans for a working canal were drawn up in 1529, but were never submitted to the king. Later in 1534, a local Spanish official suggested a route that was very close to the canal present location. Several others came up with ideas for a canal to be built, but there was never any action taken towards the construction. Eventually the Spanish government lost interest in the canal.

In the early 19th century, German scientist Alexander Von Humboldt reincarnated the Spanish government?s interest in building a canal. In 1819 the Spanish government approved the plans for a canal to be constructed, and the creation of a company to built it. Once again, the effort to build the canal was not followed up upon, and during the Spanish revolt Spanish colonies took the land for which the canal was to build on, out of their control.

With the land out of their hands, they tried to interest several outside countries, including the US, to aid in the building of the canal. This invitation became a serious topic of debate in the US Congress. The discovery of gold in 1848 in California, and the rush of would-be miners greatly increased the US?s interest in digging the canal. In 1850 and 1875 two surveys were taken to determine the most practical route. One route was across Panama, and the other went through Nicaragua. In 1876 an international company was created to dig a canal across the Isthmus. This company would later fail, resulting in the appointment of a French company led by Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal. In 1889, Ferdinand and his company went bankrupt. With all of these failures, suprisingly, the US still had a strong interest in the building of the canal.

In 1899, the US Congress created the Isthmian Canal Commission to examine the possibilities of a Central American canal, and to determine the best recommend route. The commission first decided on the Nicaraguan route, but reversed its decision in 1902. The sudden change in opinion came after the Lessups company offered its assets to the US at a price of $40 million dollars. The Us then tried to negotiate with the Colombian government to obtain a strip of land 6 miles wide across the Isthmus, but the Colombian Senate refused the request. However, in 1903 Panama revolted from Columbia. In that same year, the US signed a treaty with Panama, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla. This treaty guaranteed the US independence of Panama, and proposed a lease on a 10-mile strip of land for the canal. For this land Panama was to be compensated an initial payment of 10 million dollars, and an annuity of $250,000. These payments began in 1913, and the payment was raised to a higher amount.

In 1905 the Isthmian Canal Commission decide to build the canal with locks, instead of building it at sea level. President Theodore Roosevelt put the job under the direction of US Army Corps of Engineers. The Corp was lead by Colonel George W. Goethals. It was estimated that the construction would take ten years to complete. Building the canal was not going to be an easy task. The area of which the canal was going to pass through was infested with mosquitoes that spread yellow fever and malaria. Also the construction called for the removal of 175 million cubic yards of dirt. Building the canal was a strenuous and time-consuming task. The final cost of building the canal was $336 million, and 5,609 men died during the construction period.

The Panama Canal is a very important investment to the US. Travel time through the canal takes 9 hours. This is incredible, considering that it would weeks to travel around the tip of South America. In general, it was a very good it was a very good investment for the US. But, by the year 2000, the Panama Canal will be back in the control of Panama. We can only hope that relations between the US and Panama remain on a positive note.