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The Panama Canal |
The French tried to build the Panama Canal first and failed. In 1904, the United States, under the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, picked up the project and the canal was completed by 1914.
This proved to be a complicated, expensive, & intricate project and many obstacles had to be overcome. |
Before the Panama Canal was built there was no waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. If someone wanted to travel by ship from New York City to San Francisco, CA they would have to travel all the way south around South America and come back up north to reach the west coast of the United States. In the 1900s, the US was growing into an imperial power with a very powerful navy. President Roosevelt recognized the urgency of needing to move ships (both military and merchant) quickly around the world. Because of this, he was convinced that the Panama Canal needed to be built and the United States would be the ones to do it.
So why Panama? Central America is pretty narrow compared to the rest of Latin America. Panama was the smallest strip of land (isthmus) between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in Central America and had lakes that could be used to support the massive project. There was one problem, however. In 1900, Panama was the northern part of the country of Colombia. If the US were to build a canal in Panama they would need to negotiate with Colombia or find another way. President Roosevelt saw an opportunity and jumped on it. |
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