Panama Canal Facts

The Panama Canal, a 51 mile long waterway, regarded as one of the greatest and marvelous engineering achievements of the 20th century, is a bisection through the strips of a land in Panama, that drastically cuts down the time required to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This eventually led to a significant change in trade and commerce relations amongst various countries.

Facts About the Panama Canal
It stands testimony to the human determination and consistent efforts can work wonders. Nevertheless, it also represents the years of struggle against Nature and loss of life of thousands of workers that may lead us to think the fruitfulness of such projects.

History and Facts
The history of Panama Canal dates back to the 16th century. In 1534, King Charles V of Spain, realizing the crucial role a canal at the site of Panama Canal could make in their economic growth, conceived the idea of a waterway to cut through it so that the time taken for transatlantic voyages is reduced drastically. Wars in Europe in the same years however, halted any work on this mega project and it was put to permanent hold till the beginning of early 19th century when the works of a German scientist, Alexander Von Humboldt, generated interest of the Spanish government to work on the construction plans. In 1819, Spanish government formally announced the construction of canal. The USA got more interested in the Panama Canal, when in the year 1848, Gold mines were discovered in California. However, it took few more decades for the work to gain a momentum and that was due to US intervention. In 1882, the French government tried to build a canal across the Panama however, due to severe Malarial diseases, it lost nearly 20,000 of its workers that led them to step back and discontinue the project. The US helped Panama to gain independence from Colombia and so Panama let it take over the project from French government in 1904. The then US president, Theodore Roosevelt played a crucial role in getting the project completed in the year 1914.

Construction Facts
The construction was conceptualized owing to the idea of reducing time that ships and voyages took, during transatlantic travels. The geography of Panama is such that a waterway through it, was envisioned to bring a new economic boom to Panama by bolstering trade and commerce relations with various countries. Panama is located in the middle of North and South American continents and it also strands aside Pacific Ocean and Atlantic ocean which make it as very defining position in the entire stretches of land across Atlantic and Pacific oceans when it comes to reaching border countries. Panamas' nearest neighbors are Costa Rica and Colombia. The total length of this canal is nearly 50 miles and a journey of 27,000 miles from New York to West Coast, was reduced to just 5,000 miles after itl was built! And the time taken to cover the same journey decreased from 60 days to 30 days!

Facts and Figures
Here are some interesting facts related to this marvel:

• It was opened on August 15th,1914 however, poor political conditions due to the onset of world war 1 made the significance of such an amazing construction appear much less popular.
• The total cost incurred for the US in the project was US$375,000,000, highest ever spend by any government during those decades.
• Theodore Roosevelt's sheer will and determination was pivotal in the completion of such an enormous project.
• Nearly 20,000 French and 6,000 American workers died during the completion of the project.
• The first ship to pass through it was named Ancon and it was allowed to sail on August 15th, 1914.
• For nearly 20 years, it was under US control however, as Panamanians started opposing US control, in the year 1977, US president Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama.
• On December 31st,1999, Panama was officially handed over the rights to control the canal way.
• The toll charges of the passing ships through this passage is decided by the size of the ship and the cargo it's carrying.
• Till date, highest toll charges have been paid by a Disney cruise ship that paid $330,000 in 2008.
• The lowest charge was paid by adventurer Richard Halliburton in 1928, who was asked to pay 36 cents for swimming across the length of this great passage.
• The US paid US$40,000,000 for the rights of property of this wonder to take over the project from them.
• Nearly 40 ships cross Panama Canal daily.
• 12 - 15 thousands ships cross it per year.
• It takes 8 - 10 hours to transit this canal and approximately 3 hours to pass the locks.
• Not less than 60,000,000 pounds of dynamite were used to excavate and construct it.
• It started operating on 24 hours since 1963 after the introduction of fluorescent lightning system.
• Nearly four and half million cubic yards of concrete was utilized into the construction of the locks and the canal.
• A part of US Navy, the hydrofoil Pegasus crossed it in a record time of 2 hours 41 minutes.

lt, indeed, was one of the biggest public investments of the past decades and although it caused immense benefits to the US. It is believed that certain restrictions by the US on Panamanians to access canal zone area hindered the economy of Panama and this topic is studied by historians and scholars with great interest and critical acclaim. The most crucial benefit of this canal was the establishment of health care technologies that led to the drive of various anti-malarial campaigns in the port cities. The Panama Canal, undoubtedly has various political dimensions associated to it, however, its grandeur, massive size, herculean human effort and the enormous time and money required to build it, are some marvels of nature and human effort. It can be definitely called the jewel in the crown of Republic of Panama.