Transcript The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal
Outline Format
I. Layout of the Panama Canal
• Major ship canal
• Cuts through the isthmus of Panama in
Central America
• Connects Atlantic and Pacific Ocean
• Largest and most difficult engineering
project ever undertaken of that time
• 48 miles long
• Takes 9 hours to go through the canal
II. Building the Panama Canal
• First attempt was by the French in 1880
• 22,000 workers died
• U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt helped
Panama become independent of
Columbian rule
• Then Panama allowed U.S. to cut canal
• Opened in 1914 under U.S. law
III. Machinery of Panama Canal
• Steam shovels were used to dig the canal
• Rocks and dirt were hauled away in
wagons and put on locomotives to
transport elsewhere
• Dynamite made the job very dangerous
IV. Climate and Health
• Workers lived in buildings with no walls
• They used nets to keep bugs away
• The jungle heat killed many
• Mosquitoes brought disease
V. Benefits of the Panama Canal
• Time was saved sending products from
one coast to the other
• Time was saved sending war ships to war
• Money was saved with this new shortcut
VI. Future of the Panama Canal
• December 31, 1999 the country of
Panama took control of the Panama Canal
and currently governs the area
• U.S. Treaty agrees to allow U.S. to use the
canal anytime
• Expansion of the canal was recently
announced and will begin soon