The Panama Canal is one of the greatest works of engineering and modern achievements of mankind. An all-water passage through the continental divide of the Panama region had been suggested since early Spanish colonial times of the 16th century. The reality of a canal through the Isthmus of Panama came to be when the French began work in 1881. After 20 years of laboring on the construction of the canal the French had exhausted their resources and capital. As the U.S. expanded across the North American continent and continued to become a world power, a more practical way was needed to travel from Pacific to Atlantic. The United States purchased the rights and assets from France in 1902 and took over the task of building the canal. President Roosevelt saw the opportunity of having an inter-oceanic canal that would provide easy access to the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans for the U.S. merchant and naval ships. The U.S. labored for ten years and in 1914 the canal was finished. The accomplishment of constructing the Panama Canal was a major factor in the U.S. becoming a dominant force throughout the seas. Millions of dollars and thousands of lives later one of the greatest endeavors of mankind was complete.
In 1880 the French set out on their quest to construct a canal through the Isthmus of Panama. The company estimated that they could complete a sea-level canal in eight years. In 1881 yellow fever struck at an alarming rate along with Malaria. At that time the people did not realize the connection between the diseases and the mosquitoes that carried them. The hospitals were breeding grounds for these deadly mosquitoes. People with medical conditions other than malaria or yellow fever would go to the hospital and then contract the disease. When people noticed this happening they started avoiding hospitals. By 1884 the work force of the French was at its maximum of 19,000 workers. In 1885 yellow fever was constant as many of the workers contracted it. In 1888 the French company redirected its efforts to the lock canal system that is along the lines of the current one constructed by the U.S. The French company was too stubborn to realize that the sea-level canal was not working. Then in 1889 the company had no capital left and all work on the canal ceased. In 1894 a new French company started work on the Culebra Cut which would be very similar to the U.S. plan. This company also ran out of capital and was forced to stop construction.
The Business plan on Marketing Management Company Analysis Work
"Marketing ideas have made singularly little penetration into the centres of influence of the construction industry. To some extent this follows from the character of the industry as an agglomeration of service organisations, not without structural relationship to one another, but serving a clientele from which individuals seek service very infrequently." (Jepson & Nicholson, 1972: p. 1) ...
France saw the U.S. as the only country that could complete the task and offered to sell their assets to the U.S. The Isthmian Canal Commission under the McKinley administration surveyed the region and thought Nicaragua was the best choice for the placement of a canal to connect both oceans. In 1901 Theodore Roosevelt took over the presidency and he saw a canal as vital and indispensable for the U.S. and their destiny as a world power. He firmly believed in the power of a country was in its naval force and having control of a waterway between the two great oceans would allow the U.S. to control the seas. He signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty with Britain that renounced Britain’s interest in the canal project and permitted the U.S. to build and fortify the canal. (Horowitz et.al. 76) The U.S. had learned that during the Spanish-American war it could have used a inter-oceanic canal as it took one of its warships over sixty days to reach Cuba from the California coast by traveling around the horn of South America. After the war it had also acquired territory throughout the Pacific. Having a canal in place would allow its ships to move more efficient throughout seas. In 1902 the U.S.
The Essay on Theodore Roosevelt Foreign Policy
Theodore Roosevelt inherited an empire-in-the-making when he assumed office in 1901. After the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States. In addition, the United States established a protectorate over Cuba and annexed Hawaii. For the first time in its history, the United States had acquired an overseas empire. As President, Roosevelt ...
purchased the assets and rights to the land from France for $40,000,000. The government decided on Panama because it would be shorter, straighter and require fewer locks, along with an already established railroad. The U.S. signed the Hay-Herran Treaty with Colombia for a sovereign strip of land 10 miles wide in order to build the canal. The treaty had the U.S. paying Colombia $10,000,000 and an annuity of $250.000 every year after ten years. The Colombian government rejected the treaty. Roosevelt became impatient and supported the uprising of the Panama republic to separate from Colombia. The U.S. sent warships on both sides of the Isthmus to keep the Colombians from quelling the independence movement of Panama. In 1903 Panama declared its independence. A new treaty with Panama was now signed. The Hay-Buneau-Varilla Treaty, ratified in 1904 by both Panama and the U.S., required the U.S. to pay Panama the $10,000,000 and granted the U.S. the same ten mile wide sovereign zone for construction. In 1904 the U.S. operation in Panama was slowly underway. The problem of yellow fever and malaria was the first obstacle to overcome. Nearly all of the men who came to Panama in 1905 contracted malaria.
At the same time studies were being done in Cuba that proved diseases were linked with the mosquitoes. Until then the diseases were thought to have risen out of the earth after it was freshly dug. The workers then started taking precautions to prevent the mosquitoes from thriving. Yellow fever was permanently wiped out on the Isthmus by 1905. Eradicating malaria was a greater task. Malaria claimed more lives than yellow fever and unlike yellow fever it does not confer immunity. Many efforts were made by the medical staff and workers to prevent the spread of malaria by the mosquito. In 1906 only seven per 1,000 contracted malaria and that dropped to .3 per 1,000 by 1913. In 1906 the U.S. officially proceeded with the lock canal proposal. The project was then fully underway. President Roosevelt visited Panama and the construction site that same year. He became the first President to leave the continental United States while in office. He arrived and gave a tremendous speech to several hundred Americans working on the canal. He romanticized and made analogies to war and the workers being soldiers and doing a great honor for the world. The following year the current chief engineer John Stevens resigned due to personal matters.
The Essay on politics of the panama canal
During the Spanish-American War the warship Oregon was summoned from the West Coast. The trip took two months to travel 14,000 miles around Cape Horn to the Atlantic. (The American Journey 741) How was the United States supposed to defend it shores if it took ships that long to get between them? The United State had to build a canal through Central America; national security depended on it. The ...
He had been very instrumental in the success up to that point. Roosevelt appointed George Washington Goethals, a military man, as his replacement for the rest of the way. Roosevelt is seen as being behind the force and determination in constructing the canal but President Taft provided the most hands on participation over the longest period. He hired chief engineer Stevens and also recommended Goethals. Taft made two trips while president and saw to it the canal was completed. From 1906 on, many design changes were made as work progressed. They had to widen and deepen the canal, sometimes at the request of the navy for newly designed ships that had not been put to sea yet. The canal was complete in 1914 and formally opened later the same year. The U.S. used the canal, along with many other countries throughout the world, to travel from ocean to ocean with much ease. By 1914 there had been a total of 268 million cubic yards of earth excavated. (McCullough, 621) The number was more than four times the amount first estimated by the French. There were a little over 5,000 American deaths and an estimate of about 25,000 total deaths during the French and American campaigns. (McCullough, 643) The exact number is not known because the French only recorded the deaths that occurred in hospitals. The achievement of the Panama Canal has been seen to many, as one of the greatest works of civilization. In 1977 a new treaty was worked out between the U.S. and Panama to give the two countries joint control. Then after December 31, 1999 Panama assumed complete control.
Bibliography:
1. Cameron, Ian. The Impossible Dream: the Building of the Panama Canal. New York: William Morrow, 1972. 2. Horowitz, David; Carroll, Peter and Lee, David. On the Edge: A History of America From 1890 to 1945. St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1990. 3. Keller, Ulrich. The building of the Panama Canal in historical photographs. New York: Dover Publications, 1983. 4. Lee, William Storrs. The Strength to Move a Mountain. New York: Putnam, 1958. 5. McCullough, David. The Path Between the Seas: the Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977.
The Term Paper on Henry David Thoreau 7
“Simplify! was Thoreau’s motto” in his life (Stanley 20). He showed people how to live simple life by living a simple life in Walden. Due to Thoreau’s efforts and works on nature people considers a nature an important part in their lives, as a result nature became one of the top topics in 21st century. Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts ...
