The Panama Canal

Posted: August 27th, 2021

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The Panama Canal

A canal refers to an artificially built passage to allow the movement of water vessels. The link https://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/Make-the-Dirt-Fly/ offers a reading on the history of the construction the Panama Canal as a linkage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The four introductory photos used in the reading include “Why Build a Canal?” “Choosing a Route,” “Waging War on Mosquitoes,” and “Life in the Canal Zone.” These photos provide some historical descriptions of the events and occurrences during the development of the Panama Canal. Thus, the subsequent discussions describe different sections and photos as observed from the reading.

Why Build a Canal? Many factors played a part in instigating the need to build the canal, including commercial, military, and national values. However, the idea of building the Panama Canal emerged in the 16th century from the Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa. According to Balboa, the Isthmus of Panama was as a bridge that separated the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The discovery ignited the need to establish a natural waterway that could enable movement across the two oceans. However, no attempts were made to realize this vision until the nineteenth century. The Western world was put in motion following transportation, communications, and machinery facilities in this period. People and finished commodities needed to be moved to distant markets. However, it was challenging to find the shortest route. Inter-oceanic and rail transport were expensive and time-consuming. Besides commercial importance, canals were viewed as a source of military and national significance. For instance, the Isthmian Canal reflected the glory of France, whereas Americans wanted to control the canal to dominate the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Therefore, the existence of isthmuses, including Panama, remained a hindrance in achieving these objectives.

Choosing A Route. Before the construction process began, there were mainly two different choices for the appropriate route. Initially, Americans viewed that the appropriate route linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was Nicaragua but not the Panama one. However, this view changed, especially following the involvement of experienced French engineer Phillippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla. He lobbied the American lawmakers to consider buying the assets of the French canal in Panama. Equally, he convinced most of them about the dangers that the Nicaragua canal posed mainly because of the frequent volcanoes in the area. Thus, in the 19th century, Americans began the purchase of French assets in Panama.

            The purchase process faced resistance from Colombia that was a part of Panama. However, a consensus was reached between Panama and French government through a treaty initiated by John Hay and Bunau-Varilla, which allowed the progress of the project under the control of Americans. Thus, the route was constructed by Americans, opening a waterway link between the two oceans.

Waging War on Mosquitoes. Over 24,000 workers of the Panama Canal died during the period of construction. The canal construction encountered different challenges; for example, the weather condition, challenging terrains, and effects of tropical diseases were a great obstacle. The earlier French constructors lost about twenty thousand workers. A similar situation happened with Americans, who lost about five thousand and six hundred workers from tropical diseases. Most deaths were attributed to yellow fever and malaria sickness. Interestingly, it was difficult to establish actual cause of these diseases since most medical experts thought it was caused by poor hygienic conditions. No one understood that the mosquitoes were the primary carriers. Later, in the 20th century, some medical experts realized that mosquitoes were the carrier agents. Hence, this discovery made it easy to control the disease, thereby significantly reducing its impacts. Some measures employed were improved sanitation that involved draining standing waters, eliminating potential breeding grounds, and using window screens on buildings. Therefore, this strategy significantly reduced the number of deaths during the project.

Life in the Canal Zone. Different situations predicted the life in the canal during the period of construction that focused on the work that ran from Monday to Sunday with ten hours of activity per day. Other situations included periods of equipment repairing and learning sessions. However, the success of the project was based on three factors: stability, the health of workers, and their satisfaction. The workers were awarded generous pay packages and accessible accommodation to ensure that they remain comfortable and energized to provide their service. Equally, feeding services were provided at subsidized costs for motivation. Therefore, these programs served as significant factors to have workers remain committed to the course.

            Lastly, information sharing was encouraged through the Canal Record as the official newspaper for the Commission. It was published weekly with the main content, highlighting the workers’ social life in the canal zone, sports, and amusements, among other activities. Some popular topics, such as excavation records, contributed to competitions among different excavation methods. However, this competition was healthy because it motivated the discovery of other easy and highly efficient methods. Therefore, besides the project’s challenges, it was both an adventurous and constructive endeavor towards a new economic and political development era.

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