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Panama Canal

The building of the Panama Canal took 34 years from the initial effort in 1880 to actually opening the canal in 1914. The building of the canal is considered one of the greatest engineering feats in history. Panama Canal. TEKS understandings.

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Panama Canal

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  1. The building of the Panama Canal took 34 years from the initial effort in 1880 to actually opening the canal in 1914. The building of the canal is considered one of the greatest engineering feats in history. Panama Canal

  2. TEKS understandings The student understands the impact of geographic factors on major events. • The student is expected to: • (A) analyze the effects of physical and human geographic factors on major events including the building of the Panama Canal; and • (B) identify and explain reasons for changes in political boundaries such as those resulting from statehood and international conflicts.

  3. Imagine you are living on the East Coast in the early 20th century. Your family is in the clothing business and wants to sell clothes to new stores in San Francisco. Of course, the clothes can’t be loaded on a plane - there aren't any planes. And trains are too expensive and unreliable for shipping goods.

  4. Shortcut If a canal were built where the land between North America and South America is narrowest--across Panama--it could shorten the trip around South America by nearly 8,000 miles.

  5. Isthmus of Panama Panama is an isthmus,a narrow strip of land which has water on each side and connects two larger bodies of land.

  6. So your family decides to send the clothes by ship around the tip of South America. The trip can easily take two months, and many ships (like the Olympia, pictured) are destroyed by terrible storms at Cape Horn. Rounding the Horn

  7. Shortcut to San Francisco After looking at these pictures what do you think would be the challenges of trying to build a canal through a tropical jungle and mountains?

  8. Panama rain forest A tropical jungle may be a fascinating place for scientists to work, but for workers trying to build a canal it’s a nightmare. Imagine trying to dig out tons of dirt in a jungle like this. And there was no insect repellent to keep the bugs from biting.

  9. Early History - 1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa crosses the isthmus of Panama and becomes the first European to see the Pacific Ocean in the Americas.

  10. Early History – 1500’s • 1524: Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes suggests a path to be built across the Isthmus of Panama • 1534: The King of Spain wants to build a canal through Panama • Although these people knew how beneficial to commerce it would be to create this, they didn’t have the ability to do it

  11. The 1800’s • 1835 - France is given a permit to build a canal across Panama. However first they have to come up with a plan to build the canal. • In 1881headed by Suez Canal builder Ferdinand de Lessups, they finally start.

  12. Courtesy of: http://www.canalmuseum.com/photos/panamacanalphoto002.htm

  13. After eight years France gives up on the project.

  14. The effort lost over 20,000 men and cost over $287 million (1.5 billion francs). The French company was the greatest business failure of the 19th century.

  15. Phillippe Bunau-Varilla Through extensive lobbying of businessmen, government officials, and the American public, Bunau-Varilla successfully convinced the U.S. Senate to appropriate $40 million to the New Panama Canal Company in the form of the Spooner Act of 1902. This flag was designed by Varilla based on the Flag of the United States as a tribute to the U.S. contribution to Panama's independence.

  16. The United States 1904 - The United States begins working on the Canal 1914 - The canal is completed 1977 - The United States signs a treaty with Panama and agrees to give Panama control of the canal in 1999. On November 2, 1903, the Columbian naval vessel Cartagena was deployed to Panama. The US warship Nashville, (left) with eight 4” guns, however, was able to force the ship to retreat. The Columbian garrison on Panama was bribed by US forces not to intervene. The next day Panama declared independence.

  17. President Theodore Roosevelt He was determined to build a canal across Panama. It would expand trade, helps the United States fleet mobilize more easily for national defense, and show the world the United States was becoming a world power. Image Courtesy of: http://www.britannica.com/nobel/art/orooseh001p1.jpg

  18. Why was it so important to build a canal? It is 1904. Feisty Theodore Roosevelt is president, and the United States is fast becoming one of the most powerful nations in the world. Such recent inventions as the Telephone, the aeroplane, and the automobile make the 3,000 mile wide country seem smaller.

  19. “I took it…” “…the Panama Canal would not have started if I had not taken hold of it, because if I had followed the traditional or conservative method I should have submitted an admirable state paper to Congress… Accordingly I took the Isthmus, started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate me." --Theodore Roosevelt (pictured on steam shovel during 1906 visit)

  20. So the United States is ready to do what seemed impossible-to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. • But a major decision had to be made. Should the canal be built at sea level like the Suez Canal? The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans come within 45 miles of each other at Panama’s narrowest point.

  21. Or should it follow the natural rise of the land? This would mean building locks (to raise and lower ships as they pass through the canal). Locks this big had not yet been built. The decision was made in favor of having locks. Now they just had to figure out how to build them.

  22. Drawn in 1903, this “Topographic, Diagramatic, and Illustrative Map of the Panama Canal” illustrates the project for U.S. readers. The top panel depicts the excavations done by the two French companies that began construction. The middle panel shows a profile of the project.

  23. Building the Canal The next few pictures show what the area looked like when the French started building the canal. What challenges do you think they faced building a canal in this type of area?

  24. Image Courtesy of: http://www.anu.edu.au/BoZo/jennions/images/Panama%20lake.jpg

  25. Working Conditions The average yearly rainfall is about 80 inches. Flooding makes the ground like pudding, and you can sink up to your knees in mud. Tropical diseases, such as yellow fever and malaria are spread by mosquitoes.

  26. Working Conditions Imagine working on the Panama Canal. By noon the temperature is about 100 degrees. It’s humid-so humid that after it rains steam rises from the ground and your clothes become soaking wet. There is no shade, no air-conditioning, and no place to get cool.

  27. As one worker said, “There was no shelter from the sun or the rain. There were no trees, and when the sun shines, you get it. When the rain falls you get it.” Photo courtesy of: www.canalmuseum.com

  28. Panama Canal • Dr. William Gorgas, was hired to eradicate yellow fever , like he had in Havana years before. He was able to accomplish his goal by killing the mosquitoes that carried the diseases. Workers: • Drained swamps, swept drainage ditches, paved roads and installed plumbing. • Sprayed pesticides by the ton. • Entire towns rose from the jungle, complete with housing, schools, churches, commissaries, and social halls.

  29. John P. Stevens Hired by Roosevelt as chief engineer on the Stevens' primary achievement in Panama was in building the infrastructure necessary to complete the canal.

  30. A railroad man, Stevens rebuilt the Panama Railway and devised a system for disposing of soil from the excavations by rail.

  31. Given a nearly unlimited budget and authority, Stevens increased the size and scale of excavating equipment and had his medical officer eradicate the dreaded Yellow Fever mosquitoes.

  32. Human toll Thousands of workers were hired, mostly from the Carribean. At least 25,000 of them were listed as having died from disease and injury. 1909 Arrival of SS. Ancon with 1500 laborers from Barbados at the Cristobal Port in Colon, Panama

  33. The building of the canal Photo courtesy of: www.canalmuseum.com

  34. Building the giant locks Photos Courtesy of www.panamacanal.com

  35. Photo from the Canal Zone Brats www.czbrats.com

  36. Building the giant lock gates Courtesy of: http://www.canalmuseum.com/photos/panamacanalphoto026.htm

  37. Panama Canal 1909 Lock Construction The American expenditures from 1904 to 1914 totaled $352,000,000, far more than the cost of anything built by the United States Government up to that time. In today’s money it would cost $7,448,028,707.72

  38. Panama Canal By August 15, 1914 the Panama Canal was officially opened by the passing of the SS Ancon.

  39. Canal opening - 1914 When the Panama Canal opened officially on August 15, 1914, the world scarcely noticed. German troops were driving across Belgium toward Paris; the newspapers relegated Panama to their back pages. The S.S. Cristobal(above) makes a test run through the canal on August 4, 1914, eleven days before the official opening.

  40. Birds Eye View Of the Construction Site At Pedro Miguel Locks - 1913  Pedro Miguel locks

  41. At the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side, workers poured enough concrete to build a wall 8' wide, 12' high, and 133 miles long. They built culverts the size of railroad tunnels to channel water from Gatun Lake into the locks.

  42. Lake Gatun Ships wait in Gatun Lake for passage through locks. Once the largest manmade lake in the world, at 422 square kilometers Lago Gatún is still a plenty impressive body of water. It was formed by damming the Río Chagres near its mouth, at Gatún, and is an integral part of the Panama Canal.

  43. The largest ships able to go through the canal are described as being of Panamax size. Panamax

  44. How the Panama Canal works Image Courtesy of: http://www.panamacanal-cruises.com/panama-canal-pictures/crosssections.jpg

  45. A lock is a part of a canal with gates at each end where boats are raised or lowered to different water levels. How a lock works • http://www.pancanal.com/eng/general/howitworks/index.html

  46. The ship goes through a set of gates into a lock chamber. The water in the chamber is still at sea level. Then more water comes pouring into the chamber through valves.

  47. The ship rises like a toy boat in a bathtub. When the water rises high enough, the ship passes through a second set of gates and enters a small lake. It goes to the next lock and the water is raised again.

  48. Panama Canal Today, ships get stuck in traffic jams because there are so many of them and they often have to wait up to 20 hours to go through the canal.

  49. Post-Panamax In 2006, Panama voters approved a $5.25 billion plan to expand and modernize the canal. The project includes two new sets of single-lane, three-step locks: one set at the Atlantic entrance and one at the Pacific

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