Construction of the Panama Canal:
The Panama Canal's construction was started by the French in the 1880. The French attempted to a build a sea-level canal, which is a canal with no locks. Rain-induced landslides occurred because the workers excavated at very steep angles. Malaria, a disease passed from mosquitoes, and yellow fever killed many of the over 20,000 workers who died during the construction. The French construction was eventually abandoned in 1893.
The United States started their construction of the canal in 1904. Only 1/3 of the work done by the French was valuable to the US. The United States bought the equipment and excavation for forty million US dollars. The United States decided to build a lock canal instead of the sea-level canal the French started. John Stevens had screens put in the workers housing to keep the mosquitoes out. Even while building a lock canal, Stevens had to excavate a lot of ground.
When finally completed in 1914, the canal was 48 miles long and successfully joined the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. About 5,600 workers died during the American construction. The canal cost the US over $387 million, and was completed 2 years behind schedule.
The Panama Canal is so important because it allows ships to cut through the isthmus, instead of going all the way around South America.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_canal
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Good but be sure to include personal thoughts.