Panama Canal, Panama

 Place: Panama Canal

Weather: Thunderstorms, 76/86F.

Route: From El Silencio 684 km ESE on 34, 2, and Interamericana.

Significance: Panama is a place of contradictions. Historically it was considered to be more a part of South America - after the Spanish Empire collapsed in the America's in the early 19th century it became part of Gran Columbia, a country that included what is now Columbia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.  Now it is considered part of the North American continent, at least in part because it is literally the end of the road.  One could drive all the way from Alaska to Panama, but the Darien wilderness is the end of the road. In order to get to South America from Panama you have to get on a boat or a plane. And yet it is also home to one of the greatest transportation advances in modern history.  

The Panama Canal isn't a UNESCO World Heritage Site - but it probably should be.  The first plans for a canal were voiced by the Spanish soon after they first came to the Americas in the 16th century. Before the canal was built the only way ships could go from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans was to go around the southern tip of South America (or an even more treacherous northern trip through the Bering Sea).  There wasn't any serious attempts at taking advantage of the thin Panama isthmus until the mid 19th century, when the U.S. built the Panama railroad, which was opened in 1855. Goods coming from the west coast to New York would be sailed by ship from San Francisco to the west coast of Panama - then be unloaded on trains that traveled the 51 miles to the Atlantic coast - and then loaded back onto ships that would travel to New York.

The Suez Canal was built prior to the Panama Canal - and was twice as long. The French had built the Suez Canal and thought that they could do the same thing in Panama. From 1881 to 1894 they attempted to to build a sea level canal. The main difficulty with building a canal in Panama versus the middle east was the jungle.  The wet season lasted 8 months and quickly rusted their equipment. Diseases like yellow fever and malaria killed thousands of workers. Eventually the project simply ran out of money. It was a huge scandal in France - and several people in charge ended up in prison.

Enter the United States. The first issue was that Panama was still a part of the country of Columbia. Columbia's government had been dragging their feet on an agreement and so the US military actively supported a Panama rebellion.  Three days after Panama won their independence from Columbia in November 1903, the new ambassador to the U.S. signed an agreement that the U.S. government could build and control the Panama Canal zone - which was roughly the same area as the Panama railroad.

It took 10 years and over 5,000 workers lives - but the Panama Canal opened in 1914. It cut off 8,000 miles off the trip around the southern tip of South America. Although it certainly was a huge accomplishment - it raised many questions regarding U.S. power in Central and South America - as well as workers rights. But in the end, of course, the economic interests won out.

Image:

A large cruise ship passes through one of the locks - ships are lifted 85 feet in total (from cruisecritic.com)