Panama Canal

"The history of the Panama Canal goes back to 16th century. After realizing the riches of Peru, Ecuador, and Asia, and counting the time it took the gold to reach the ports of Spain, it was suggested c.1524 to Charles V, that by cutting out a piece of land somewhere in Panama, the trips would be made shorter and the risk of taking the treasures through the isthmus would justify such an enterprise. A survey of the isthmus was ordered and subsequently a working plan for a canal was drawn up in 1529. The wars in Europe and the thirsts for the control of kingdoms in the Mediterranean Sea simply put the project on permanent hold."(source)

"From 1819, Panama was part of the federation and country of Colombia but when Colombia rejected United States plans to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, the U.S. supported a revolution that led to the independence of Panama in 1903."(source)

"Groundbreaking on the Panama Canal began in 1881 and was not completed until 1914. The French government was in charge of building the canal until it abandoned it in 1889. The United States took over control of construction at that point and oversaw its completion."(source)

"The actual building of the Panama Canal which, unknown to many, was carried out in two phases, brought in a whole new series of factors in calculating the cost of building an engineering marvel of the kind that was inaugurated in 1914 in the tiny republic of Panama. The first building phase known as the French Period lasted ten years from 1881-1889. It, as well as the American Period, 1904-1914, will be remembered for its audacity but, more than for its boldness and engineering innovation, it will recall the enormous price paid in human life."(source)

"Ever since the Spaniards landed in the Isthmus of Panama for the first time in 1501, Panama has been a natural transit route for merchandise and people attempting to cross from one ocean to the other.As early as the 1520’s the Spanish Crown explored the possibility of constructing a Canal through the Isthmus, but the idea was later abandoned. In the 19th Century, the United States also saw the opportunity of joining the two oceans, but they had a railroad in mind instead of a Canal.In 1832, Congress sent Col. Charles Biddle to Panama to negotiate a concession for the construction of a railroad. He also inspected the country for the best route. Biddle died shortly afterward, but interest in the project continued. In 1848 a charter was granted to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to deliver mail between the U.S. and Panama. The incorporators were William H. Aspinwall, his uncle, Gardiner Green Howland, Henry Chauncey, and Edwin Bartlett. Three wooden paddle-wheel steamships were built; the California, the Oregon and the Panama. They would deliver mail between New York, Panama and San Francisco, but the discovery of gold in California in January 1848 took Aspinwall’s attention away from mail delivery".(source)


"The people of Panama had joined their neighbor, Colombia, in a nation known as greater Colombia. In the 1840's, they had fought to win their Independence, but lost. So it was Colombia, not Panama, that controlled the area when a group of Frenchmen decided they wanted to build a canal."(source)

The end of the Panama Canal construction book source.

Book 1
Book 2