How it was. Construction of the Panama Canal. Panama Canal: "The Tragic Construction of the Century Where is the Panama Canal on the map

This waterway divides the state of Panama into 2 parts. It is of great importance for maritime navigation, as it shortens the sea route from one ocean to another by thousands of kilometers.

The length of this man-made creation is 81.6 km. Through the Isthmus of Panama, the distance is 65.2 km. But in order for sea vessels with a high draft to freely enter the channel, it was also necessary to deepen the Panama and Limon bays. They account for 16.4 km.

The building is a gateway. They built locks in order to reduce the amount of excavation. They are located along the edges of the waterway and raise ships to a height of 26 meters above sea level. Their width is 33.5 meters.

About 15 thousand ships cross the Panamanian waterway every year. In total, since 1914 there have been more than 815 thousand of them. For example, in 2008 there were 14,705 ships. They transported 309 million tons of cargo. The throughput is 49 sea vehicles per day. The waterway from the Atlantic to the Great Ocean can be overcome by a ship of any size. Currently, there are standards in the global shipbuilding industry. They do not provide for the construction of sea ships, which, due to their dimensions, will not be able to overcome the water part of the Isthmus of Panama.

The construction of the grand structure began in 1904 and ended in 1914. 375 million dollars were spent. At the current exchange rate, this amounts to 8 billion 600 million dollars. The project is considered one of the largest in the history of civilization. The official opening of the waterway took place on August 15, 1914. The first ship that got from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean in just a few hours was called the Ancona. Its displacement was 9.5 thousand tons.

Thanks to the Panama Canal, the sea route from one ocean to another has been significantly reduced.

History of the Panama Canal

Europeans began to dream of a short way from one ocean to another in the first half of the 16th century. But only at the end of the 18th century did the first plans for a great construction appear. The situation began to be concretized after 1849, when huge reserves of gold were found in California. The shortened path from ocean to ocean has become a vital necessity.

Therefore, from 1850 to 1855, a railway was built that crossed the Isthmus of Panama. But, of course, she did not solve the problem of huge cargo transportation. It was the waterway that was seen as the ideal solution.

In 1877, French engineers surveyed the proposed route and published their project. The authority of the French was extremely high after the construction of the Suez Canal, which connected the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean. And the Americans had their own project, which involved the construction of the Nicaraguan Canal across the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua.

First canal construction

However, the French were more energetic and purposeful. In 1879, they organized an interoceanic company, which was headed by Ferdinand Lesseps. It was he who led the construction of the Suez Canal 10 years ago and coped with this task brilliantly. A concession for construction work was bought from the government of Colombia, and Lesseps began to deal with organizational issues according to an already knurled scheme.

As a future dividend, shares were issued under the guarantee of France and Colombia. Profit promised to be big, so people willingly bought securities. Many invested all their savings in them, counting on solid profits in the near future.

However, Lesseps turned the hundreds of millions of francs thus obtained into dust. Work began on January 1, 1881 on a project that did not provide for the construction of locks. The project did not take into account many geological and hydrological features of the region. The builders constantly ran into mountains and hills, which had to be leveled and deepened to the level of the oceans. But this presented a most difficult problem, as landslides interfered.

Existing equipment quickly rusted in the tropical climate and failed. But most of all, the workers themselves got it. Mosquitoes living in the Panamanian jungle were carriers of yellow fever and malaria. This has led to illness and death. In total, 22 thousand people died, which at that time was commensurate with the losses during the war.

In 1889, the company declared itself bankrupt, and all work on the construction of the Panama Canal was stopped. A terrible scandal erupted. About 1 million people who invested in the project were deceived. An investigation began, and then lawsuits. Lesseps, as the main culprit, received 5 years in prison. But soon the poor man was transferred to a psychiatric hospital, as he began to talk and behave inappropriately. Apparently, the indelible shame had a depressing effect on his psyche.

In 1894, on the initiative of the French government, another company was set up to take over the project. But it all ended with the fact that the company's management began to look for buyers for existing assets. These included the preserved excavations and equipment.

Panama Canal on the map

Second canal construction

In 1903, Panama declared itself independent from Colombia. In this it was fully supported by the United States. In the same year, the United States received land in the unfinished canal zone for perpetual use. In 1904, the Americans bought equipment and excavations from the French. In May of the same year, US President Theodore Roosevelt appointed an American engineer and administrator to head the construction. John Findlay Wallace. But he resigned a year later, saying that he could not cope with the construction.

His place was taken John Frank Stevens, who at one time built the Great Northern Railway. It was he who put forward the idea of ​​locks, which was much cheaper compared to biting into the earth's firmament to the level of the oceans. He also suggested creating an artificial lake by damming the Chagres River. The length of the lake turned out to be 33 km, which almost halved the amount of work.

To ensure the safety of workers, Stevens organized work to drain the swamps, cut down the jungle and burn the grass. The earth was poured with engine oil, and the mosquitoes that brought death disappeared. Comfortable housing, canteens were built right there, a water supply system was created for thousands of people who were ready to work on the construction of the canal.

People from all over Europe and America went to the construction site. They were well paid, although the work was hard. However, all the costs were brightened up by an established life and a high salary.

Stevens was replaced in 1907 George Washington Goethals. He was the President's protégé and led the already well-established and organized construction work. They ended in 1914 and lasted a total of 10 years.

Lock on the Panama Canal

Panama Canal today

The canal is currently owned by Panama. The average fee charged from a ship moving from one ocean to another is about 13,000 US dollars. Calculations are made depending on the tonnage of cargo ships and the number of beds on passenger liners. The maximum cost of the passage today is 376 thousand dollars. This is how much a Norwegian cruise ship paid in 2010.

But the captain of an oil tanker paid $220,000 in 2006 for priority passage, so as not to wait for 90 other ships. Usually, the owners of large cargo ships pay no more than 54 thousand dollars. But it is good for owners of small yachts. They fit into 1.5 - 3 thousand dollars, depending on the length of the vessel.

The Panama Canal plays a huge role in shipping. Although it was built 100 years ago, it meets all modern requirements. Moreover, cargo transportation is increasing every year, but the waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean is constantly being modified and improved. However, this cannot go on forever. Therefore, in the future, it is planned to build the Nicaraguan Canal, which will create additional amenities for cargo and passenger ships.

The main geographical feature of Panama is a narrow 190-kilometer isthmus between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is as if nature had specially foreseen that people, having risen to the appropriate level of technical development, would one day lay a canal here, connecting the two great oceans.
Immediately after the discovery of both Americas, many navigators tried to find a way connecting the two oceans - the Atlantic and the Pacific. Magellan discovered such a passage at the extreme tip of the South American continent. But the search for a new route - more convenient, less remote and dangerous than the route around Cape Horn - continued with a vengeance, but did not bring success.

The Spanish conquistador Cortes, in a letter to Emperor Charles V, proposed to dig a canal in the narrowest point of the American continent. In 1520, the first project appeared. Its author was Alvaro Saavedra Cedron. who proposed to cut the isthmus in the direction of the Gulf of Darien. After 14 years, Charles V ordered the start of work on the exploration of the area, although many considered the laying of the channel unfeasible. Later, the Spanish king Philip II sent the Italian engineer Gian Battista Antonelli to America to study the problem in more depth, and he, having carefully studied the terrain, returned to Spain with the message that construction was impossible.
The idea of ​​building a canal in Central America across the Isthmus of Panama arose again in the 18th century in connection with the rapid growth of world trade. The famous French utopian socialist Saint-Simon and the outstanding German geographer Alexander Humboldt came up with projects for the construction of an inter-ocean canal.
The question of building a canal was discussed by the leaders of the Latin American states that had just won independence. Simon Bolivar back in 1815 called for the construction of an inter-oceanic canal by the joint forces of Latin Americans. In 1825, he instructed English and Swedish engineers, under the leadership of A. Humboldt, to carry out survey work on the Isthmus of Panama.

In the 19th century, a fierce struggle for influence in Latin America and, in particular, unfolded between Great Britain and the United States. for establishing control over the Isthmus of Panama, where sooner or later the inter-oceanic canal was supposed to be. Great Britain, having seized a number of islands in the West Indies, made great efforts to gain a foothold in Central America and establish control over the zone of the future canal.
France did not remain aloof from this struggle. In 1838, the government of New Granada (now Colombia) granted the right to build a canal to a mixed Franco-New Granada company. The French government showed great interest in the project. On behalf of Paris, the Italian engineer Felice Napoleone Garella began the development of a preliminary project, which was published in 1845. According to this project, it was necessary to equip the canal with locks and build a railway before the start of land work. Despite the fact that Garella's project was not implemented, the ideas of the Italian engineer formed the basis of subsequent developments.
The United States of America, having joined in the middle of the XIX century. in the struggle for the canal, they sought from New Granada special rights to this territory of the isthmus. In 1846, the United States concluded an agreement with New Granada on peace, friendship, trade and navigation, according to which they received the right to duty-free transit through the Isthmus of Panama. In return, the US government undertook to guarantee the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama, to help preserve the sovereign rights of New Granada over the isthmus, and to prevent foreign aggression. On the basis of an 1846 treaty, the Americans received a concession to build a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama.

The "mistress of the seas" England was wary of the US actions in Panama, and the American government could not help but reckon with a powerful rival. Therefore, before the plans for the construction of an inter-oceanic canal were actually implemented, American diplomacy considered it necessary to normalize relations with Great Britain.
As a result of a long diplomatic struggle in 1850 between England and the United States, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was concluded on the construction and defense of the canal. Under the terms of the treaty, all interoceanic routes were open to both England and the USA; they pledged to jointly guarantee the neutrality of the future canal. The US insisted. that the rest of the powers also be given the opportunity to become guarantors of this neutrality. The USA and England pledged not to subjugate to their influence and not to occupy any part of Central America. At the same time, the terms of the treaty did not allow the United States to take control of the future canal alone.
Having concluded such a "truce" with Great Britain, the United States in the same 1850 began, and in January 1855 completed the construction of a 77 km long railway across the Isthmus of Panama. It connected the cities of Colon (on the Caribbean coast) and Panama (on the Pacific coast).

In those years, France again began to show increased interest in the idea of ​​​​building the Panama Canal, especially after the Suez cable was opened in 1869. In 1879, the French "General Company for the Construction of the Panama Rope" was created under the leadership of the famous builder of the Suez Rope, Ferdinand Lesseps. Soon, the construction of a lockless canal 22 m wide and 9 m deep began. By 1888, a significant amount of work had been completed: more than 30 million cubic meters had been selected. m of soil, including rock, but another 75 million cubic meters had to be selected. m. In the safes of the company there were less than 100 million francs, and more than 800 million were required to complete the work.
Meanwhile, a terrible human tragedy was being played out at the construction site: thousands of workers were dying. In 1880, 21,000 Frenchmen went to Panama, tempted by high wages. Less than 5,000 returned home. In total, about 50,000 people died during the construction of the rope.
It became obvious that the rope project was poorly drawn up, and the financial affairs of the company were in a catastrophic state. Since 1888, construction work has actually stopped, and in 1893 the biggest scandal in the history of France erupted. It turned out that the financial management of the General Company gave bribes to members of the government and deputies of parliament. 150 French ministers and parliamentarians were implicated in corruption. More than 100 thousand shareholders were ruined. Since then, the word "panama" has come to mean any dark fraud, scam. The main reasons for the disruption of the construction of the canal were thefts committed by the persons who headed the General Company, but the United States also played an important role in this matter. who controlled the Panama Railroad and sabotaged the activities of a French company.

In September 1894, instead of the General Company, the French New Panama Rope Company was created, which received a concession from the Colombian government for a period up to 1900. But the company's affairs steadily deteriorated, and it secured a four-year delay. In 1902, the ownership of the "New Company" passed to the shareholders of the United States. In search of new markets, additional sources of raw materials and areas for profitable investment of capital, North American entrepreneurs sought to accelerate the construction of a rope, the opening of which would significantly reduce the distance between the ports of the United States and the Far East.
For the practical implementation of the construction of the Panama Rope, the United States first of all had to get rid of some articles of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. The international situation favored this. Fearing isolation, England agreed to a revision of the treaty.

After a stubborn diplomatic struggle, on November 18, 1901, the Hay-Pownsfot Treaty was signed, which marked the complete victory of the United States over England. The previous contract was cancelled. England renounced all claims to the Panama Canal and recognized US hegemony on the Isthmus of Panama. USA. having the opportunity to complete the construction of the cable, operate it and manage it, they were declared the only guarantor of the neutrality of the future channel.
In May 1904, shortly after the signing of the American-Panamanian treaty, the construction of the canal, so unsuccessfully begun by the French General Company, was resumed. On August 15, 1914, the unofficial opening of the canal took place. However, landslides and the outbreak of the First World War delayed its commissioning. The rope was officially opened only on July 12, 1920.
10 thousand Panamanians, 12 thousand foreign workers brought from Spain, Italy, Greece, France and Germany, and more than 27 thousand from the Antilles (Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Jamaica) participated in the construction of the rope in the period 1904 to 1920. The length of the rope on land is 65.2 km; together with approach ropes dug in the shelf from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the total length is 81.6 km. The minimum depth at low tides is 12.6 m.

A vessel entering from the Atlantic Ocean passes through a section of the canal dug at sea level (11.3 km long, 155.2 m wide and with a minimum depth - at low tide - 12.6 m), leading to the Gatun locks, the first of a series of three gateways with which the channel is equipped.
The Gatun locks consist of three chambers, each 305 m long and 33.5 m wide. The locks are double, so ships can pass through them simultaneously in both directions. To save water, each of the chambers is equipped with intermediate gates. When small vessels pass, the chambers overlap in the middle, and water from the already passed half overflows faster into the neighboring lock. Vessels are guided through the locks by two electric locomotives on toothed rails laid along both walls of the lock. All operations to control the mechanisms are carried out from the central station.
Further along the Gatun locks, the ship rises 25.9 m to the level of Gatun Lake. This is an artificial lake with an area of ​​424.76 sq. km, created during the construction of the canal: the Chagres River was dammed in part by an embankment, partly by a concrete dam - one of the most ambitious engineering structures for its time. The length of the dam along the crest is 2.4 km. its width at the base is about 330 m, in the upper part - about 30 m. The crest of the dam is 9 m above the lake level.
After leaving the locks, the ship moves under its own power along the channel laid on the Gatun Lake. The width of the channel here varies from 300 to 150 m, and the depth - from 26 to 15 m. The fairway is not straight, but winding, as it largely follows the former course of the Chagres River.

After passing about 38 km along Gatun Lake, the ship enters the Culebrskaya Vyemka. It was this place that required the most effort in the construction of the canal, the most pound was chosen here, and repeated landslides caused the delay in opening the canal.
The channel of the Culebrskaya Vyemka has a width of 91.5 m, a depth of 13.7 m and a length of 11,136 m. Pedro Miguel locks, also with two rows of chambers. Through these long (1152 m) sluices, a passage opens into Lake Miraflores, located 9.5 m below the Culebrskaya Vyemka. After passing through the lake along a fairway 230 m wide, 15 m deep and 1456 m long, the ship reaches the Miraflores locks, consisting of two stages of double locks 1456 m long, with a drop of about 16.5 m (the lower level varies depending on the tides of the Pacific ocean). The Miraflores locks are the last in the Panama Canal. Further, the ship goes through a passage 12.8 km long, 152.5 m wide and with a minimum depth of about 13 m.
The Panama Canal connects two ports: Cristobal on the Atlantic coast and Balboa on the Pacific. It takes 7-8, sometimes up to 10 hours for a vessel to pass through the canal. The normal throughput of the canal per day is 36 ships, the maximum is 48 ships.
The port of Cristobal has 13 piers and docks; in Balboa - the same number, including fi dry dock. The canal entrances are protected from storms by concrete breakwaters.
With the opening of the Panama Canal, the distance between New York and Honolulu has decreased by 8,000 miles. The Panama Canal also brought US ports in the Pacific closer to Europe. All this contributed to the expansion and strengthening of international trade relations.

Already the ancient Egyptians built a navigable canal that connected the Nile with the Red Sea. Viscount Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps (1805 - 1894) was a French businessman, politician and diplomat. In 1833 he was consul in Cairo, in 1848-1849 he was ambassador in Madrid. In 1869 he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences. He was the organizer of the construction of the Suez Canal, and in 1875, during a conference of the Paris Geographical Society, he outlined the concept of his new project - the construction of the Panama Canal.

In 1854, when Said Pasha became Viceroy of Egypt, he granted Lesseps a concession to build the Suez Canal. Lesseps considered every detail associated with the opening of the Suez Canal, and managed to correctly arrange it as an unprecedented celebration. Not without festive fireworks, dancing and music; on the occasion of this event, the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi was ordered an opera (although the composer let him down, and the premiere of Aida took place only in 1871).

The opening ceremony was attended by 6,000 invited guests, among whom were many crowned heads from all over the world. A whole flotilla passed through the canal, led by the French yacht "L'Aigle", on board which were the French Empress Eugenie, the ruler of Egypt, the emperors of Russia and Austria, the kings of Prussia and Holland.

Suez canal channel map

The Suez Canal is considered to be the conditional border between Africa and Asia. During its construction, they tried to make the most of natural reservoirs - lakes Timsakh, Big Gorkoye and Small Gorkoye. At the southern entrance to the canal is the city of Suez, and in the north, on the Mediterranean coast, is Port Said.

Suez Canal from satellite

Oil, iron ore, raw materials for the smelting of non-ferrous metals, as well as grain and timber are mainly transported through the Suez Canal. Despite the fact that this waterway goes through a barren desert, it is very popular with tourists.

The Panama Canal crosses the Isthmus of Panama, a narrow strip of land that connects North and South America. At the entrance to the canal from the Pacific Ocean (Gulf of Panama) is the city of Panama, and from the Atlantic Ocean - the port of Colon.

The Panama Canal, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, has become one of the most ambitious projects of its time. After the completion of many years of construction, the length of the water corridor was 65 km. The city of Panama was founded by the Spaniards in 1519 as a harbor for ships that brought gold from Peru. The way along which the jewels were transported went first along the western coast of South America to the narrowest point on the isthmus, which separated the two oceans. Here, treasures were loaded onto mules and the Atlantic coast was transported from the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Pirates often attacked convoys with gold, and in 1671 Henry Morgan dared to attack the city, captured it and burned it to the ground. Spain restored Panama, but in a different place. Today, the Panama Canal is one of the tourist attractions.

Panama Canal on the map

An observation terrace was built especially for tourists, from where you can observe the maneuvers of ocean-going ships when these giants enter the canal bed. The Panama Canal ran through picturesque green hills. Ships intending to cross the Panama Canal from the Atlantic side enter the locks and rise 26 meters to the level of the artificial lake Gatun. All lock chambers are paired and designed so that ships that come from opposite sides can sail through the channel at the same time. In August 1914, the first ship passed along the 65-kilometer Panama corridor (together with the coastal part of the Gulf of Panama and Limon Bay, the length of the channel is 81.6 km).

Panama Canal from satellite

The Panama Canal is an artificially created artery, the role of which is very difficult to overestimate for the modern transport system of the world. When and under what circumstances was it built? What are its main parameters? The answers to all these questions are contained in our article.

Panama Canal: general characteristics

The channel connects two oceans - the Pacific with the Atlantic. To be more precise: the Gulf of Panama with the Caribbean Sea. It is located within the modern state of Panama, at about 9 degrees north latitude and 79 degrees west longitude. These are its geographic coordinates. The Panama Canal went down in history as one of the largest engineering projects in the entire history of mankind and significantly influenced the development of world shipping in general.

First of all, the canal reduced the sea distance between the two largest US centers: New York and San Francisco (almost three times!). For all the time of its existence, he missed over 800 thousand different ships. The Panama Canal has been operating for almost a century.

Main channel parameters

The construction of the Panama Canal lasted more than thirty years. And this is not surprising, because in order to implement such a large-scale project, it was necessary to overcome, drill about 70 kilometers on land of the Isthmus of Panama.

The total length of the Panama Canal is 81.6 kilometers. Of these, about 65 kilometers were laid on land. The total width of the channel is about 150 meters. But artificial locks for the passage of ships and vessels have a width of 33 meters. The depth of the canal that divided the two Americas is only 12 meters.

Passage of ships

A wide variety of vessels use the canal's services, from small yachts to large oil tankers. It is curious that the largest ship capable of passing through the locks of the Panama Canal soon became a kind of "measurement", a standard in shipbuilding. He got a specific name: "Panamax".

The passage of ships through the canal is controlled by a special service. On average, one ship overcomes it in nine hours. The Panama Canal can handle up to 50 ships per day. About 200 million tons of various cargoes are transported here annually. Now it is easy to imagine how significant and important the opening of the Panama Canal was 100 years ago.

How much do you need to pay to use this water transport corridor? The rate depends on the length (if we are talking about small ships or yachts), or on the workload (capacity) of the vessel. It is calculated in standard units of measurement - the so-called TEU (this is one container weighing 20 feet). The amount of the rate for one TEU is currently 49 US dollars.

Configuration and main technical features

Direction of the Panama Canal: from southeast to northwest. Its general structure is represented by two artificial reservoirs and two groups of locks. Also, during the laying of the canal, the beds of local rivers were deepened. All locks here are double-sided, which allows for safe oncoming traffic of ships.

The length of the Panama Canal, which falls on the bays (Panama and Limon), is only 16 kilometers. Large ships navigate it with the help of powerful electric locomotives (previously this role was performed by ordinary mules).

The banks of the Panama Canal are connected by three bridges, and a railway line and a highway run along it.

How and when did the channel appear?

It took almost a quarter of a century to realize this grandiose project. Ideas to connect the two oceans with a water crossing began to appear long ago, long before its construction began. However, the technical possibilities for this appeared only at the end of the 19th century.

The first attempt to create a canal on the Isthmus of Panama belongs to the French and dates back to 1879. But it turned out to be unsuccessful and ended in a complete fiasco for France and numerous scandals. Almost 800,000 shareholders were ruined, and 20,000 builders died of malaria. Project leaders were found guilty of fraud and corruption. By the way, one of the authors of this project, the famous Eiffel, received a prison term.

The next attempt to implement the Panama Project belongs to the Americans. And they, unlike the French, were able to bring the matter to an end. The beginning of the construction of the canal can be considered 1902.

Canal and Panamanian "separatists"

It is worth noting that the emergence of such a state as Panama surprisingly coincided with the construction of the canal. Previously, Colombia owned this isthmus, and it was with the president of this country that the United States entered into an agreement to lease a large plot of land for construction work. But it was not there! The Colombian Parliament refused to ratify the agreement. And after that, very interesting things began to happen.

Just in the state of Panama, where the construction of the canal was to take place, a group of local separatists suddenly appeared - fighters for the freedom of the region. Colombia immediately tried to stifle these movements, but the Panamanian "rebels" were immediately supported by the US Navy. The government of Colombia was forced to retreat: in November 1903, Panama proclaimed itself an independent republic. And shortly after that, the newly minted leadership of the state signed an agreement with the United States on the transfer of land for lease and indefinite use of the canal. In exchange, the superpower promised to protect the sovereignty of young Panama.

How was the channel built?

In fairness, it is worth noting that the Americans approached this matter much more seriously than the French. So, the main enemy of the canal was malaria. The Americans very quickly solved this problem: they drained the swamps, created a system of ditches to drain water, and treated the area with chemicals from mosquitoes.

It is worth citing a few dry but impressive figures for statistics. Work on laying the Panama Canal lasted 10 years. More than 70 thousand people took part in them. The total cost of the project was $400 million.

The opening of the Panama Canal was solemn and extremely pompous. Woodrow Wilson (US President), being in the White House, pressed the button and blew up the last jumper of the future channel. And the waters of the two oceans joined! By the way, for the implementation of this majestic act from Washington to Panama, a cable 4,000 kilometers long was specially laid.

It is believed that the opening year of the Panama Canal is 1914. On August 15 of this year, the first ship, the Cristobel, passed through it. However, in the same autumn, a major landslide occurred on the canal, which stopped navigation for a while. Traffic on the Panama Crossing resumed a year later - in 1915, when another solemn opening took place.

Bridge of the Americas

It should be noted that the new grand canal not only connected the two oceans, but also separated the two continents. This problem was immediately felt by the inhabitants of two cities - Colon and Panama, which were cut off from the rest of their republic.

The construction of the so-called bridge of the Americas began in 1959 and was completed in 1962. It became the first solid road bridge to connect two continents. Before that, drawbridges provided communication between the two banks of the canal.

Current state and prospects

Despite the fact that the canal was built exactly 100 years ago, it is still in great demand today. Of course, the size and tonnage of modern ships have increased markedly. Therefore, the modern Panama Canal faces a number of potential and serious problems today.

In 2006, a special referendum was held in Panama regarding the future of the channel. And 79% of the country's inhabitants spoke "for" its expansion and modernization. Active work began in 2007. It is planned that in the very near future the width of the access locks will increase from 34 to 55 meters, and the depth - up to 15.2 meters. Thus, the Panama Canal will be able to pass modern large-capacity oil tankers.

The total cargo turnover should rise to 600 million PEU. According to plans, the new Panama Canal after reconstruction will be able to pass 18.8 thousand ships a year. The total cost of the canal upgrade project is a huge amount: US$5.25 billion.

Alternative to the Panama Canal

It is obvious that the volumes of world shipping are growing. And if in the first half of the twentieth century the Panama Canal did an excellent job with its duties, today it is increasingly facing new problems. So, in recent years, traffic jams from ships that form on both sides of the canal have become more frequent. Sometimes the length of one such traffic jam reaches several tens of large vessels.

Based on this, many are thinking about the need to build a second Panama Canal. Nicaragua, in this regard, is seen as the most suitable option.

The projected canal in Nicaragua is a great alternative to the Panama Canal, many experts say. Yes, and natural conditions contribute to its laying. By the way, the first ideas to cut a passage in this country arose as early as the 17th century.

Nicaraguan canal

The leaders of three states (Russia, China and Nicaragua) have already agreed on joint participation in this project. The new canal will not only solve the transport problem, but also deprive the US of its economic monopoly in the region.

$45 billion is the estimated cost of the project. The main financial burden promised to take over China. The Russian Federation, in turn, undertakes to provide military support for the project. Thus, Russian warships are allowed to stay in the territorial waters of Nicaragua until mid-2015.

It is planned that the width of the Nicaraguan Canal will be from 230 to 530 meters, and the depth - up to 30 meters. The total length of the canal will be 278 kilometers, of which 105 kilometers must pass through the waters of Lake Nicaragua.

Conclusion

The Panama Canal is a majestic structure, one of the greatest engineering projects in human history. It took 10 long years and millions of dollars to build. Despite its advanced age, the Panama Canal continues to be in great demand. However, new times require new capacities, as a result of which the channel faces a host of new problems. To solve this problem, it was decided to modernize the building qualitatively. In addition, alternative options are being considered, in particular, laying a new canal in Nicaragua.

The Panama Canal is called the eighth wonder of the world for a reason.. This masterpiece of engineering is one of the most intense, longest and most complex artificial waterways in the world. And hardly any other engineering structure on Earth has such a rich and dramatic history.

The Panama Canal is a navigable canal connecting the Panama Bay of the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, located on the Isthmus of Panama in the territory of the State of Panama.

Length - 81.6 km, including 65.2 km on land and 16.4 km along the bottom of the Panama and Limon bays (for the passage of ships to deep water).

The construction of the Panama Canal has become one of the largest and most complex construction projects carried out by mankind. The Panama Canal had an invaluable impact on the development of shipping and the economy as a whole in the Western Hemisphere and throughout the Earth, which led to its extremely high geopolitical significance.

Thanks to the Panama Canal, the sea route from New York to San Francisco was reduced from 22.5 thousand km to 9.5 thousand km.

Panama was discovered in 1501 by the Spanish conquistador Rodrigo de Bastidas. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa sailed with Bastidas - he was the first to cross the Isthmus of Panama, spending weeks on the way to the Pacific Ocean. In 1519 Balboa was falsely accused of treason and executed, but thanks to him the Isthmus of Panama got on maps. Since then the idea of ​​connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by water, in order not to make a long-term transition full of dangers around South America, did not leave the minds of sailors and merchants.

In 1502, Christopher Columbus founded the village of Santa Maria de Belen at the mouth of the Belen River, which was soon destroyed by the Indians. In 1509, the Spaniards founded a colony on the coast of the Gulf of Darien. Ten years later, the city of Panama was founded - the current capital of the state of the same name. The Spaniards transported the mined gold, silver, jewelry along a stone road called Camino real - the Royal Way. From the city of Panama on the Pacific coast, the treasures were transported to Puerto Bello (Portobelo) on the Atlantic.

In 1529, a Spanish officer, an outstanding mathematician and geographer named Alvaro de Saavedra Seron, proposed four options for digging a canal. He died without having time to acquaint any of the powers that be with his projects, but five years later, King Charles V of Spain personally ordered to examine the coast of Panama in search of a waterway through the Isthmus of Panama. In 1550, the Portuguese sailor Antonio Galvão published a book outlining four projects, mostly coinciding with Saavedra's. At the beginning of the 19th century, the German naturalist and traveler Alexander Humboldt already proposed nine plans for digging a canal, including through the northern part of the American continent.

By the end of the 18th century, the gold and silver mines known at that time were developed, and the importance of the route through the isthmus began to gradually decline. In addition, there was a constant threat of pirate attacks. But, losing importance for Spain, the route through the Isthmus of Panama became more and more important for the young power, growing and gaining strength - the United States. In 1846, the United States concluded a treaty of friendship, trade and navigation with New Granada, which then included Panama. The American side undertook to guarantee the inviolability of the Isthmus of Panama. At the same time, the US received a concession to build a railroad through it. It turned out to be a timely move. In 1849, gold was discovered in California, and thousands of people flocked to San Francisco. An American company began building a railroad at a huge cost and about 60,000 lives. The road, less than 80 kilometers long, was completed only in 1855. To recoup the costs, the company overcharged the freight rates, using its monopoly. However, this monopoly did not last long: other companies established a regular service around Cape Horn, which was much cheaper, although it took longer. And the direct path through the isthmus again fell into disrepair. At that time, the Clayton-Bulwer Agreement was in force between the United States and Great Britain, according to which both parties waived exclusive rights to build a canal. France took advantage of this contradiction.

The General Company of the Inter-Ocean Canal was created, headed by the diplomat and businessman Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal. After Suez, Lesseps became a national hero, he was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences and received the title of engineer, although he had no technical education.

On January 1, 1880, the groundbreaking ceremony took place at the mouth of the Rio Grande. The maximum number of workers involved in the construction was 19,000 people. The work was carried out on a grandiose scale, but by 1885 only one tenth of the planned was completed. The main reason for this was unforeseen technical difficulties and the tropical climate. The proximity of malaria swamps caused outbreaks in workers living in unsanitary conditions. Hundreds of people died from yellow fever. The lack of timely medical care and necessary medicines led to gigantic casualties among the builders.

The Isthmus of Panama is one of the most complex geological sections of the earth's surface - mountainous, covered with impenetrable jungles and deep swamps. The local mountains, formed as a result of volcanic activity, are a mixture of hard rocks with soft rocks, and the mixture is disordered and located at different angles. The builders of the canal passed 6 large geological faults and 5 centers of volcanic activity. Add to this the scorching sun, very high humidity, abundant tropical rains typical of these places, as well as regular floods of the Chagres River, sometimes taking on catastrophic proportions, and, of course, yellow fever. It is good that the engineers of the past did not have detailed information about the geology of the isthmus and about all the other natural "surprises", otherwise the Panama Canal would hardly have ever been built.

Lesseps decided to set up a joint-stock company - the last time this idea turned out to be successful. Three years after the completion of the construction of the Suez Canal, he began to make a net profit, and before nationalization in 1955, the company paid shareholders 12.4 billion francs. But in this case, Lesseps' enterprise ended in complete failure and became a tragedy for many Frenchmen.

In 1876, Lesseps purchased the design of the engineer Vaz and the concession. It took 10 million francs. In 1880, a report was drawn up, according to which the costs were estimated at 843 million francs. As it turned out later, this amount was very underestimated. On February 1, 1881, construction began on the Panama Canal. It was supposed to lie at sea level, without locks and dams. Through the pass at the junction of the Veragua and San Blas mountain ranges (87 meters above sea level), a tunnel should have been laid.

Financial difficulties began almost immediately. Few people wanted to invest in the construction of a canal somewhere on the other side of the world. I had to carry out an extensive advertising campaign, and for this I had to pay a substantial amount to banks and the press. The railroad, intersecting with the route of the future canal, had to be bought from the Americans for an amount three times its cost. For the years 1879-1889, the expenses amounted to 1274 million francs. Meanwhile, construction has barely progressed.

At the end of 1887, under pressure from the young engineer Philippe Bunod-Varilli, Lesseps was forced to agree to a passage to the lock canal. As conceived by the engineer, the highest level of the canal was to be 52 meters, and this circumstance entailed the need to revise the project. For this, engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was called from Paris, who was just finishing the construction of his legendary tower, so that he could get involved in the work and prepare a canal project using locks. But all efforts to revive the rapidly deteriorating work were in vain, due to lack of money, they were suspended at around 72 meters.

The financial difficulties of the Panama Company grew from year to year. In 1885, Lesseps and his colleagues decided to improve the company's business by issuing a long-term winning loan. The issuance of such a loan required the consent of the government and parliament - the chamber of deputies and the senate, because private companies did not have the legal right to conduct lotteries. The company began processing journalists, ministers and deputies in order to make changes in the law. The Baron de Reinach distributed more than four million francs in cash bribes to all echelons of power!
The struggle around the state's sanction to issue a winning loan lasted about three years. The company could no longer hide either the unsatisfactory progress of work on the isthmus or its financial problems. Lesseps's halo faded, and his physical strength was running out.

The Panamanian company, in order to stay afloat, issued two more conventional loans that did not require government approval. To attract subscribers, she made the bonds especially attractive by raising the nominal (so-called coupon) interest rate to 10% per annum. The banks that placed the bonds had to pay more and more.

In April 1888, the Chamber of Deputies approved the loan, supported by the Senate and the President, the maximum amount of which was increased to 720 million francs. President Theodore Roosevelt actively supported the Panama project, for which he was later accused of not reaching French investors, but ending up in Morgan's pockets.
Theodore Roosevelt (center)

Started in June 1888, the subscription for bonds almost immediately ended in complete failure. It collected only 254 million, of which 31 million were the issuance costs that went to the banks. Finally, the law required the company to allocate a special reserve fund from the money raised as a guarantee for the payment of winnings and the redemption of bonds.
The leaders of the Panama Company, led by father and son Lesseps, continued to make desperate efforts to avoid bankruptcy, assuring at the shareholders' meeting that the construction would be completed on time and the money would flow into the company's cash desk.

They made a trip around the country with speeches about the guarantee of their honesty. But after the deputies refused to support the bill on preferential debt repayment, the end came. On February 4, 1889, the Civil Court of the Seine Department officially declared the bankruptcy and liquidation of the Panama Company and appointed a liquidator.
At the time of bankruptcy, after eight years of building the canal, the work was only two-fifths complete. The Panamanian company raised 1.3 billion francs by issuing shares and bonds. Of these, 104 million francs were paid to banks as commissions, 250 million as interest on bonds and for their redemption. Contracting companies were paid 450 million francs, but a significant part of the work on the estimate was not completed.

During the liquidation of the company, it turned out that there were no liquid assets left on its balance sheet, with the exception of a giant undigged ditch and a pile of rusting equipment in the jungle of Central America. The number of investors who lost all their savings after the bankruptcy of the Panama Company reached, according to various estimates, 700-800 thousand people.
Three years after the financial collapse, in 1892, a corruption scandal erupted when the French nationalist press began to publish revelations of massive bribery of politicians, government officials and the press by the administration of the Panama Company, which tried to hide the deplorable state of the company from the public and obtain permission to conduct a "saving » winning loan.

Numerous financial abuses were uncovered, first of all, the total corruption of all branches of government. Charges of taking bribes were brought against 510 MPs who took bribes not furtively in an envelope, but with a bank check!

The scandal led to the fall of three French governments. Many ministers were involved in it, including the future prime minister Georges Clemenceau, and practically none of them was held accountable.
In the dock were the elder and younger de Lesseps, Gustave Eiffel, several company managers and the former Minister of Public Works. In 1893, they were sentenced to various prison terms (Eiffel - to two years and a fine of 20 thousand francs), but four months later these sentences were annulled by the court of cassation, and the defendants in the case were released.
Ferdinand de Lesseps, due to his advanced age and services to the country, was spared from prison. The health of Lesseps, which had been significantly undermined during the years spent in Panama, was seriously damaged in the current situation. He went mad and died in December 1894 at the age of 89. Charles lived until 1923, having managed to see the Panama Canal in action and learn that the good name of him and his father was restored ...

Ferdinand de Lesseps survived the intoxication of success - this is Suez, and the bitterness of disappointment - this is Panama. When he managed to connect the two seas, sovereigns and nations paid him honors, but after he was defeated, unable to cope with the rocks of the Cordillera, he turned into an ordinary swindler ...

As soon as the passions subsided, it turned out that the deceived investors could save at least part of their money only on the condition that the construction would continue. In the year of the death of Lesseps, in 1894, a new Panama Canal Company was created in France, which very slowly, but continued construction and survey work.
The Americans, who bought the property of the new Company, not forgetting the sad experience of their predecessors, significantly adjusted the canal design, choosing the option with locks, relied not on private capital, but on public funding, and fine-tuned the construction management procedure. Modern discoveries in the field of medicine also came to their aid: by that time it was found that the killers of the French - carriers of yellow fever and malaria were mosquitoes and mosquitoes, so unprecedented efforts were made on the territory to destroy insidious insects. Serious sanitary and hygienic measures were taken during the entire construction of the canal. However, in this case, there were human casualties - during the second stage of the construction of the Panama Canal, 5,600 people died, while 70,000 workers participated in it. Construction was labor intensive and lasted ten years. According to official figures, the construction of the century cost the Americans $380 million.

Whether Ferdinand de Lesseps was really guilty of fraud, or whether this elderly man simply turned out to be a victim of self-deception and became a pawn in someone else's unscrupulous game, now probably cannot be established. The methods that were used in the construction of the canal can safely be called fraudulent. The excessively low cost of the project and the timing of its implementation initially misled investors. This was also facilitated by an active advertising campaign that touted optimistic forecasts, but which constantly hushed up the difficulties.

Despite this, public opinion and the press did not approve of the severity of the sentence ...

By 1888, almost 2 times more funds were spent on the construction of the canal than expected, and only a third of the work was completed. The company went bankrupt, which led to the ruin of thousands of small shareholders.

Further investigation revealed facts of mass corruption, bribery by the company of officials, newspaper editors. This adventure was called Panama, and the word "Panama" has become synonymous with scam, fraud.

In 1894, France organized new Panama Canal Company but work has not resumed. The New Company was negotiating behind the scenes with the United States government, which hoped to use the channel to further penetrate the economy of Central and South America. Negotiations were successful, and the deal was concluded on February 13, 1903. The Company ceded to the United States government for the sum of $40 million its rights to build the canal and all equipment and property on site.

The conditions under which the company carried out work on Colombian territory did not satisfy the United States, and they developed a new agreement under which the entire 10-mile-wide strip of land along which the canal passed was withdrawn from the sovereignty of the Republic of Colombia. The cities of Colon and Panama were declared free ports. The protection of the canal was entrusted to the government of the Republic of Colombia. The government of the United States undertook to pay the government of the Republic of Colombia a pitiful sum of 10 million dollars at a time and then annually pay a small monetary compensation of 250 thousand dollars.

This agreement was already signed by both governments on March 18, 1903, a month after the acquisition of the rights to the channel, and submitted to their senates for ratification.

The Colombian Senate, under pressure from the masses, outraged by the extortionate conditions, rejected the treaty, demanding to ensure its sovereignty over the canal zone and wanting to receive greater compensation for the concession being presented. The refusal of the Colombian Senate to ratify the treaty caused a storm of indignation among the ruling circles of the United States. The President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt proposed not to stand on ceremony with the random owners of the territory needed by the United States and to deal with them at your own discretion.

Using bribery and pressure, the American entrepreneurs of Wall Street, through their agents, on November 4, 1903 staged the "Panamanian revolution".

The newly formed Republic of Panama, which includes 84,000 square kilometers, including the zone of passage of the future canal, declared itself independent from Colombia, and pro-American hardened businessmen, bought with American dollars, became its head.

The President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt immediately ordered the commanders of American warships stationed in Colon and the Pacific port of Mexico - Acapulco, not to allow Colombian troops to land on the coast of Panama, heading there to suppress the "revolution". The American directorate of the Panama Railroad also refused to transport Colombian soldiers for this purpose.

Just a week after the "revolution", the United States hastened to formally recognize independence and autonomy of the Republic of Panama, and on November 18, 1903, they concluded a new agreement with the government of this republic on the construction of a canal on even more favorable terms for the United States than the agreement previously rejected by the Senate of Colombia. On February 26, 1904, the territory adjacent to the canal, 1422 square kilometers with a population of 14.47 thousand people, was annexed to the United States and named the "Panama Canal Zone".

The Republic of Colombia did not risk a war with the United States and was forced to admit defeat. Canal construction was resumed and continued by the United States.

Culebra notch

The Culebra Cut, in terms of the amount of labor, people and money used, was a kind of “special miracle” of the Panama Canal. The essence of this work was to overcome the multi-kilometer section between Gamboa on the Chagres River through the mountain range of the Continental Divide to the south to Pedro Miguel. The lowest point on the pass between Gold Hill to the east and Contractors Hill to the west was about a hundred meters above sea level.

Technically, it all boiled down to drilling holes into which explosives were placed, the explosion of which raised a mass of stones and petrified clay into the air. Steam shovels then removed the resulting crushed soil, placing it on railcars for transport to the dump sites. In general, working equipment, in addition to the railway as such, included steam excavators, unloaders, spreaders and track movers. Of all these machines, only steam excavators were known to the French, and they were much less powerful. The Lidgerwood unloader, manufactured by the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Company of New York City, was an indispensable tool for the job. Wooden single-sided platforms with an average load capacity of 14.5 cubic meters transported most of the excavated soil, of which they made up long trains (there were no gaps between the platforms, they were closed with special grooves), which were hooked up to powerful locomotives built in America.

The unloading system was interesting. The unloader's three-ton plow was mounted on the last platform, and a long cable ran from it to the winch on the frontmost platform. Having received power from the locomotive, the winch began to quickly pull the plow towards itself, thereby unloading the train of 20 platforms in one ten-minute movement. One of these machines once set an 8-hour record, unloading 18 trains during this time, that is, over five and a half kilometers of platforms and 5780 cubic meters of soil. Engineers calculated that twenty of these unloaders, which required 120 workers, replaced the manual labor of 5,666 people.

The spreader was another American invention. It was a railcar powered by compressed air, on both sides it had a kind of wings that could be lowered or raised. Being lowered, they covered several meters along the sides of the rail track. Moving forward, the spreader pushed and leveled the material left by the unloader. Like him, the spreader did the work of five to six thousand ordinary workers at a time.

Another machine, the track mover, was invented by the American William G. Bierd, general manager of the Panama Railways from September 1905 to October 1907. The massive crane-like machine lifted an entire section of road—rails and sleepers—and rearranged it in the other direction, a maximum of more than two meters at a time. Its benefit was especially great from the fact that the tracks needed to be constantly shifted in accordance with the progress of work. Once, having required a dozen people for its management, in a day such a machine moved over a kilometer of the way, which otherwise would have required the labor of more than six hundred workers.

A significant number of large four-sided tipping cars (i.e. dump trucks) from Western and Oliver were also used. Since their unloading proved to be very difficult, due to the fact that heavy clay stuck to the steel walls, they were used almost exclusively for transporting stones from the Vyemka to the Gatun Dam. Their four-sided design made it impossible to use an unloader. Many millions of cubic meters of excavated soil had to be removed from the extraction site. Part of this soil was used to interconnect four small islands in the Bay of Panama (Naos, Perico, Culebra and Flamenco) in order to build a breakwater. On top of this breakwater, a paved road was drawn, which, for several kilometers, essentially runs along the Pacific Ocean. The area between the mainland and the island of Naos was especially difficult in terms of bulk work, since the bottom there was soft, and whole tons of stones disappeared into it without a trace. The railroad and the piles with which these works were carried out were once washed away by the sea, which required their re-construction. As a result, in order to reach the island of Naos with these works, the builders needed to pour ten times more than the planned volumes.

The resulting soil was also used to backfill two square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean in order to create a site for the construction of the city of Balboa and the military fort Amador. Millions of cubic meters have also gone into building large mounds in the jungle. The largest of them, Tabernilla, contained over ten million cubic meters. Other significant embankments were the Gatun Dam and Miraflores.

The Gatun Dam, on the Atlantic side, was during its construction the largest dam on Earth, and the resulting Gatun Lake is the largest artificial reservoir on the planet. Now, Gatunskoye Lake is not even included in the top thirty of such lakes. Two dams of similar importance were built on the Pacific side - the Miraflores Spillway and, already in the thirties, the Madden Dam upstream of the Chagres River. Upon completion of the Gatun Dam, the valley of the Chagres River between Gamboa and Gatun turned into Gatun Lake. The end of the Culebra cut expanded this lake across the Continental Divide to the Pedro Miguel Locks.

Landslides along the banks of the Culebra excavation were a source of constant problems for engineers. The first such landslide under the Americans occurred near Kukarachi on October 4, 1907, when hundreds of cubic meters fell into Vyemka after several days of heavy rain. For ten days, the landslide moved at a speed of more than four meters per day. To this day, Kukaracha remains a landslide-prone area.

A “normal” landslide, like what happens in the Cukarachi area, occurs due to the fact that the porous material lying on a solid rock base is liquefied by water and at some stage loses its adhesion to the base and collapses in whole layers, often many meters thick .

There is also another type of landslide called "structural" or "deformational". In this case, it already depends on the geological structure of the rock masses. In the case of the Culebrsk excavation, the extraction of material caused the high banks to become unstable and collapse under their own weight, often in the deepest sections, thereby reducing the depth of the channel. The greatest threat of such landslides occurs during dry seasons, thus not dependent on rainfall.

The annual labor record for the construction of the Culebra excavation was reached in 1908, when, in addition to tens of millions of regular cubic meters of soil, it was also necessary to move the Panama Railroad to a higher level, due to the upcoming emergence of Lake Gatun. It required about 64 kilometers to be laid and was completed on May 25, 1912, at a cost of about nine million dollars.

By 1913, the construction of three giant locks was completed, which became a real wonder of the world. The walls of each lock chamber were as high as a 6-storey building. For each series of locks: Gatun on the Atlantic coast and Pedro Miguel and Miraflores on the Pacific, it took more than 1.5 million cubic meters. meters of concrete, which were cast into steel structures from a huge 6-ton ladle.
On August 15, 1914, the ship "Cristobal" was the first to sail along the Channel from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. On board was the "good genius" of the construction, Philippe Buno-Varilla. It took the ship 9 hours to pass. Thanks to the artificial artery, the ship sailing from Ecuador to Europe "saved" about 8 thousand kilometers.

The first ship along the canal passed on August 15, 1914. The official opening of the channel took place only on June 12, 1920.

From the very moment of the construction of the canal, the United States has been its actual and legal owners. It is interesting that the canal and the area around it have always been used by the United States not so much for the purpose of making a profit from cargo transportation, since the main principle was not the profitability of the canal, but to cover the costs of its maintenance and maintenance in a normal state, but in order to be able to control the region. Numerous military bases were located in the canal zone, used for training soldiers. In the country itself, at different times, there were from 10,000 to 65,000 American military personnel who were stationed there not so much to maintain the canal, but to exercise control over Panama and other countries in the region. Moreover, there was a special “School of the Americas”, in which soldiers were taught the strategy and tactics of fighting against the rebels on the continent. The area around the Panama Canal has always been important to the US.

The issue of ownership of the channel was raised many times. Many, primarily US representatives, were against the transfer of the canal to Panama, because they believed that such actions could only lead to the decline of the cargo transportation system, since the Panamanians simply would not be able to manage the canal.

The construction of the canal was started by French companies, but they failed to complete the project due to bankruptcy. The started construction was bought by the United States, which concluded an agreement in 1903 on the transfer of the canal for perpetual use. In addition to receiving full control of the canal and the land around, under this treaty the United States was granted the right to station its troops at any time in any area of ​​​​Panama and, in general, was allowed to feel at home. The price of the contract was $10 million plus an annual rent of $250,000.

An interesting fact in the history of Panama. As you know, Panama was a colony of Spain for a long time, and since 1821 it became part of the federal Colombia. The struggle for independence here has continued throughout the history of Panama, where uprisings and movements for freedom from Colombia broke out from time to time. But, oddly enough, it was the United States that helped Panama gain independence. Of course, the intentions of the United States were far from noble, their main goal was still the Panama Canal, and here's why. To sign an agreement on the transfer of rights to the channel, the consent of at least two parties was required.

At the same time, separatist sentiments intensified in Panama by the beginning of the 20th century, which went right into the hands of the United States. But a certain threat was borne by the troops of Colombia, whose authorities did not want to simply give up Panama. That is why, in order to ensure security, and indeed, the very fact of the conclusion of the treaty, the United States paid Colombia $25 million for the independence of Panama.

Colombia agreed to "let go" of Panama in 1903, although it can only be said conditionally that Panama became free, since it immediately fell under the de facto control of the United States.

The further history of the canal, Panama and everything that hovered around it I will tell you in the next post about the modern Panama Canal.

In the meantime, let's look at the footage of the construction of the canal:

Panorama, clickable

Panorama, clickable