Activities: Guided Reading/Creative Learners
The Panama Canal
1904–Present
The Panama Canal is a waterway in Central America. It joins the Pacific and
Atlantic oceans. The canal has aided shipping in the area and made other routes
unnecessary. Talks about building a canal in Panama started in 1532. King of Spain
Charles V thought a canal would help people to travel back and forth between
Spain and Peru. Explorer Alessandro Malaspina traveled in the area from 1788 to
1793. He also was in favor of a canal.
The success of the Suez Canal, which was built in the 1850s, spurred
renewed interest in building a canal through Panama. France wanted to be the first
to build a Panama Canal and Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal,
began building a canal in Panama on January 1, 1880. The de Lesseps’ company
wanted the canal to be at sea level. However, the land around the Suez Canal was
flat; but the land in Panama was mountainous. This made building a canal more
difficult. There were many diseases in Panama including malaria and yellow fever.
Many people from the de Lesseps’ company got sick and died from the diseases.
Doctors did not know how to cure these diseases. Mosquito bites caused malaria
and yellow fever, and mosquitoes were everywhere in Panama. Even the hospitals
were infested with the pests.
De Lesseps stopped the project in 1893. The French said they did not
investigate the area enough before they began building. The excessive rain in
Panama caused many of their machines to rust, and it was also too difficult to build
the canal at sea level. Disease was rampant at the worksite; almost 12,000 people
died from disease during the project.
In 1898 French Canal Syndicate leader Philippe Bunau-Varilla spoke with
American lawyer William Cromwell. He wanted Cromwell to advise the United
States Senate to build a canal in Panama. Other people were promoting a canal to
be built in Nicaragua. Cromwell wrote a story for the New York Sun reporting a
Nicaraguan volcano eruption. He mailed copies of the story to the senators. The
mailing he sent them had a stamp on it that showed an erupting volcano. Three
days after the senators received the letter, they approved building the canal in
Panama. This was on June 19, 1902. The United States bought France’s part of the
project, including the machinery to build the canal. The United States began work
on May 4, 1904, after the United States helped Panama become free from
Colombia. Because of this, the United States would now own the Canal Zone.
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Activities: Guided Reading/Creative Learners
The person in charge of building the canal from 1905 to 1907 was John
Frank Stevens. He wanted to make sure the canal would work. He made many
changes to the area. He helped to rebuild the Panama Railway and built homes for
the workers. He also made a system for sanitation and health to stop disease in the
region. Dr. Walter Reed also helped. Still, 5,600 people died after these changes
were made.
United States President Theodore Roosevelt was also watching the canal’s
construction. He agreed with the French on a sea-level canal. Stevens did not
believe this would be possible. He wanted the canal built with dams and locks.
Roosevelt eventually agreed, and the United States stopped using materials from
the French company. They began to use new equipment to make the canal larger.
The canal was completed in 1914 two years ahead of schedule. It opened on
August 15, 1914, and the Ancon was the first ship to pass through the canal.
At the end of World War II, control of the canal became a problem between
the United States and Panama. The Panama government believed it should have
control. Negotiations continued for twenty years. Talks were resumed in 1974, and
the Torriuos-Carter Treaty was signed on September 7, 1977. President Jimmy
Carter felt allowing Panama to control the canal would improve friendship between
the United States and other Latin American countries. According to the treaty,
Panama would gain control of the canal on December 31, 1999. Panama was
required to agree that the United States could return to the canal at any time. The
Panama Canal Authority took control of the canal at noon on December 31, 1999.
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Activities: Guided Reading/Creative Learners
Name: ________________________________
Date: ____________________
The Panama Canal
1904–Present
Discussion Questions:
1. Who first tried to build the Panama Canal?
2. What two main diseases killed people working on the Panama Canal?
3. Who was in charge of building the Panama Canal between 1905 and 1907?
4. When did Panama take control of the Panama Canal?
5. Should the United States have given Panama control of the canal, or should
the United States have kept it? Why or why not?
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