Preview

Panama Canal's Legacy in American History

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2218 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Panama Canal's Legacy in American History
The Panama Canal Assuredly the Panama Canal, If you didn’t know already, was one of the most economic and socialized marvels of its time. It was, at first, attempted by the French in the late 1800s, but they were unable to carry out the canal because of financial problems. Not only that, but yellow fever and malaria flooded the campgrounds with the aid of mosquitoes, which made the workforce unbalanced (Avery). Then in 1904, the Americans were to take over under the leadership and guidance of President Theodore Roosevelt. Even then Americans had a difficult time with construction. Moreover, with the canal built, it’s more sufficient then sailing around the tip of South America. Even today, the canal is used several times a day to bring benefits to the U.S.
The French Admittedly, the French owned the Panama Canal before the U.S. Therefore, they were entitled to its construction under the leadership of Ferdinand de Lesseps, who worked on the Suez Canal in earlier years (Avery). Either Nicaragua or Panama would be the location for this engineered creation. Nicaragua was intentionally the first location for the canal (Jones) until one of the French leaders, one day, received a letter in the mail. As usual, the letter had a postage stamp on it (Avery). From there, Panama was then chosen to become the passageway, for the stamp showed Nicaragua’s terrain with erupting volcanoes, in which they didn’t want that to destroy their plans (Avery). From there, Engineers were sent to survey the area (Avery). Since the area was owned to the Columbian court, they had to persuade them to grant permission to build the canal (Jones). Finally, they were given permission to precede with their construction plans (Avery).
Ferdinand De Lesseps The man in control, Ferdinand de Lesseps, was an older man who was completely vain from his earlier success in the Suez Canal (Avery). To him, the Panama Canal would be no different. Clearly, he believed that the Panama Canal would be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Led by the French hero, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French force was incorrectly instructed that a sea level canal--as opposed to a lock-system--was the optimal canal to construct in Panama. Although they also received intel from the Americans who, due to a sum of time spent constructing railroads in Panama, were familiar with the local climate, this information was completely disregarded by the French. Similarly, word of the potentially fatal diseases that were extremely common to the area such as yellow fever and malaria were blatantly ignored by Ferdinand de Lesseps. De Lesseps seemed prone to feigning ignorance in regards to other issues of import as well. Budget restrictions and engineering limitations, for instance, were forgotten, regardless of the fact that they came from within his own crew.…

    • 1536 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans had been discussed for some time. Such a canal would cut travel time for military and commercial ships. Ships would no longer have to go all the way around South America in order to get from one ocean to the other. The narrow Isthmus of Panama was a logical place to cut a canal.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever wondered about the Great Panama Canal' difficulties, How it was made, and the effects? Well if you did you came to the right place.This is how the Panama Canal was built. In the beginning the U.S. used lots of explosive dynamite to blow up ground or tough hard rock. Next the U.S. used lots of metal silver railways so they could carry lots of material over by train and for transportation. Next an advanced system used was called locks. These helped raise bots over the mountains and were made bye shooting up water and slowly rising or lowery into the ocean(s). Next many miners just used old fashion rusty shovels or would use pickaxes. Another thing the U.S. did was making a massive dam so that that way the camps would not get flooded and for water storage. Furthermore, away the Panama Canal was built was the U.S. hired a lot of Indies to do a lot of the world and keep the project going.…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    On May 4, 1904, the The U.S. took control of the Panama Canal property. Aware of the possibility of Europe interfering in the internal affairs of Latin American nations, President…

    • 2538 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap Us Chapter 22 Outline

    • 2105 Words
    • 9 Pages

    * Mahan proposed that the US build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama to link its coasts, acquire naval bases in the Caribbean and the Pacific islands to protect the canal, and annex Hawaii and other Pacific islands to promote trade and services the fleet.…

    • 2105 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ferdinand de Lesseps, who supervised the Suez Canal, was interested in building the Panama Canal. He joined several French businessmen to form a private company with an impressive name: the Societe Civile Internationale du Canal Interuceanique du Darien. The societe sent Lucien Napoleon- Bon parte Wyse, grandnephew of the 1st French emperor, Napoleon Bon parte to Panama in early November 1876, to survey the site for a canal and, more important, to secure the permission of Colombia for such a project. Colombian government and Wyse had an agreement. That for an initial payment of nearly $200,000 as well as yearly rental fee, societe was granted permission to build and administer a canal for 99 year lease. Colombia gave societe a belt of land 200 meter wide across the entire width of Panama. However at the end of 99 years the canal and land would be returned to Colombia. In 1873 U.S. had conducted surveys of a potential route across Panama, but had rejected it. Wyes never did surveys, and decided to use the notes of U.S. surveys instead. After that he left Panama for home to report to…

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    <br>The United States claimed that they would build the Panama Canal for the advantage of Panama. Roosevelt said that he advanced "the needs of collective civilization" by speeding up the building of an interocean canal. The Canal was built by the United States for the use of the United…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Article I of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty states that America guarantees and will maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama. This was the result of promising Panama that America would help the country become independent from Columbia. Hay, John and Phillipe Bunau-Varilla. Article III states that America has all the rights, power, and authority of the Panama Canal Zone. The Panama Canal consisted of the isthmus of Panama, a 5-mile stretch of land on each side of the isthmus, and four islands in the bay of Panama: Perico, Naos, Culebra, and…

    • 1590 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    hiho

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an 82-kilometre (51 mi) ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean.…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    As Americans tried to expand themselves across the country they found it harder to move past the Appalachian Mountains. They were far from the markets and traveling was difficult, not safe, and expensive. Having to trade and make bargain with the neighbors nearby was all that could be done. These difficulties brought the rise of great inventions that were made in which helped America build their era of Transport Revolution (Lec 11). The invention of the Erie canal, being 363 miles long going across upstate NY “allowed goods to flow between the Great Lakes and New York City” (GML 322). This new invention attracted so many farmers to move closer so that they could work the land and make a profit, making NYC the port of choice for the mid-west (Lec 11). The success of the Erie Canal was so high that other states wanted to match such a grand project. Eventually, “more than 3000 miles of canals had been built, creating a network linking the Atlantic states with the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys” (GML 322). This helped the cost of transportation to be reduced drastically to a high 90% (Lec 11). None the less, the Erie Canal was not the…

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Panama has a population of 2.77 million people. The population mainly consists of mestizo, white, and West Indian blacks. The four largest cities in Panama are Panama City, San Miguelito, Colón, and David. The Panama Canal was opened on August 14, 1914. Panama signed treaty with the United States giving rights to control an area of the canal that is ten miles wide and fifty miles long. The Canal Zone played an important role in trade for most of the 20th century. The Canal was transferred to Panama on December 31, 1999. Panama is economically and politically dependent on the United States. Education in Panama started in 1903. Primary and Secondary education flourished in the 20th Century. Panama now has one of the highest literacy rates in Central America (Education…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the 19th century, the construction of the Erie Canal and the Transcontinental Railroad led to economic growth in the United States. The Erie Canal was manmade and goes from Albany all the way to buffalo. The Railroad starts in the West and goes to the east, the railroad was to bring goods from the West to the East and/or from the East to the west……

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    While Teddy was president, he wanted to prove his dominance throughout the country, by providing a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Before the idea of the canal, many were having to travel by foot or canal through the isthmus’s swamps, jungle, and very narrow mountains. This was not only rough for travelers,…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Built in 1825, the Erie Canal brought an enormous growth of wealth to New York by linking New York to the Great Lakes (Doc 1A). The Erie Canal changed New York from the fifth largest seaport to the busiest port in America (Doc 1B). The canal helped reduce costs and travel time. Traveling time by boat decreased by thirteen days (Doc 2). In addition, more goods were distributed…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Erie Canal

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Erie Canal finished in 1825 went from Lake Erie to the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean. It was built in the search for a better way of transportation from the Old Northwest to the East Coast. The Erie Canal seemed impossible to build by many but it was eventually built overcoming some challenges along the way. The Erie Canal had many positive effects on America but had a few negative consequences. The difficulty in the transportation of goods from Old Northwest to the East Coast lead to the construction of the Erie canal which seemed impossible but is completed successfully and impacted America in many ways.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays