Building of Panama Canal
The idea of building a canal through Central America was first brought about by early European explorers. Years later, that idea, became reality. But the question arose where to build it… Nicaragua was seriously considered before the decision was made to construct it through Columbia. Before the canal was built ships had to go around the southern tip of South America adding nearly 8,000 miles to the journey. It was the French that first started constructing the panama canal in 1882 and a man named Ferdinand de Lesseps took over the operation.
The French thought that building the canal would be a breeze with the success of their previous project… the Suez Canal. They were wrong and were held back by disease, unsanitary conditions, and the Chagres River which crossed over the planned route for the canal. This presented a major problem as the French were attempting to build a sea level canal. The biggest problem by far was disease, specifically, malaria and yellow fever transferred by mosquitoes. Approximately 20,000 people died and after not making much progress after 9 years, the French stopped digging.
Theodore Roosevelt had an interest in the canal and wanted to make every possible effort to continue the project. The US attempted to sign an agreement with Columbia to continue the project, but Columbia found the terms unacceptable. As a result Panama broke off from Columbia and became an independent nation. The US began working on the canal and after a year, they were experiencing the same failure as the French. Then a new leader stepped in and took over the project. The first thing they did was clean up the living conditions and as a result the mosquitoes died off and disease went down. The project took 10 years to build and was completed in 1913 and opened in 1914
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Great summary but be sure to include personal thoughts!