Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a major ship canal traversing through the Isthmus of Panama in Central America. It connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

Its construction was one of the largest and the most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken.

The canal project has had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, obviating the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 9,500 km (6,000 miles), but the same ship when it takes the route around Cape Horn covers 22,500 km (14,000 miles).

Since its opening, the canal is highly successful, and is the key conduit for international shipping. Every year more than 14,000 ships pass through this canal, carrying more than 203 million tons of cargo.

The canal is capable of accommodating vessels from small private yachts up to fairly large commercial ships. The maximum size of vessel that can use the canal is known as Panamax and many modern ships exceed this limit, and are known as post-Panamax vessels. The passage through the canal by a cargo ship requires nine hours.

Location

The Panama Canal is situated is approximately 80 kilometers long between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This waterway was cut through one of narrowest saddles of the isthmus that joins North and South America.

Historical Importance

The concept of Panama Canal dates back to the early 16th century, but the actual attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership. But this attempt failed with the loss of 22,000 workers. Then the project of building this canal was attempted and completed by the United States in Panama in the early 1900.

The Canal was opened for services in 1914. There were lots of problems during the construction of this canal which included the spread of many diseases like malaria and yellow fever apart from the problem of landslides. When the Canal work was completed, it was estimated that a total of 27,500 workers had lost their lives in the French and U.S. attempts.