By connecting two seas, the Panama Canal revolutionized global shipping, as you’ll learn during New! Panama & Costa Rica: From Canal to Cloud Forest—but its construction came at enormous cost.
The Panama Canal is a feat of engineering—a revolutionary idea that transformed the landscape of a whole country and the operation of many others. Since its opening in 1914, the number of ships passing per year has increased dramatically, with now more than 13,000 annually—in 2010, the canal saw its millionth vessel.
The Canal is famed worldwide for its nautical efficiency and its unique lock system, which allows for ships to be risen above sea level, but there’s more to this one-of-a-kind manmade wonder than meets the eye.
The idea behind the Panama Canal dates back to the 16th century… and a Roman emperor!
Even though ownership and control of the canal was primarily held by America until the 2000s, the building of the canal was very much a global effort, with laborers and inspiration being taken from all over the world.
In the early 16th century, Spanish explorers began to cross over the Isthmus of Panama, the first in 1513 being Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a well-known governor and conquistador. His exploration of the Isthmus led to Spain using it frequently in its plundering of Central and South America, but the treacherous, thickly forested area deterred quick travel, and transporting goods over the land became a problem. As Spaniards complained about these issues, Balboa discovered just how thin the isthmus was—and ideas about a new passageway, one of water, not land, began to circulate.
A search for a natural waterway began. The Spaniards found nothing, however, and the search would continue to yield no relevant discovery for 21 years. Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, had been waiting to hear about the discovery of the unknown passage, and after no headway was made, ordered a survey of the land in 1534. Charles thought that if there was no natural waterway, then his empire would build one.
The survey concluded that it would be impossible to rework the landscape so dramatically, and Charles V put the idea to rest.
Gustave Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel) went to jail for attempting to build a Panama Canal
In the centuries since the isthmus’ commercial use for expedition and trade routes, many countries debated developing a canal. This idea became a reality in 1881, when the French decided to take a swing at it. The Suez Canal in Egypt was developed by a company led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, a former diplomat. His company was the first to seriously break ground on a canal—literally! De Lesseps began digging in Panama, even though the project was seriously unplanned and plagued by inadequate engineering and tropical disease that killed many of his workers.
Just as we can assume Charles V had, De Lesseps thought to build a canal at sea level. And, just as Charles V had, De Lesseps found that it was impossible, as the terrain was full of rugged land and thick rainforests. It was after this that De Lesseps brought in Gustave Eiffel, who you know from his designing of the Eiffel Tower. Eiffel was hired to create a locking system to help raise and lower the waterway.
Unfortunately for Eiffel’s world-renowned name, De Lesseps’ company would go bankrupt in 1889, though they would be getting paid a visit by the law. The French’s attempted canal had cost over $260 million, and already had excavated over 70 million cubic yards of earth—and it had failed. De Lesseps, Eiffel, and other company executives were indicted on many charges, fraud and mismanagement among them. Four years later, they were found guilty, sentenced to jail, and fined. Their sentences were later overturned, but Eiffel was so affected by the scandal that he retired from design and dedicated himself to the efforts of scientific research. De Lesseps passed a year later, and though a new company would take over his efforts that same year, they abandoned it not long after.
The macabre numbers
The Panama Canal is full of impressive statistics—from the 8-10 hours it takes to sail through to its estimated cost of $8.6 billion today to the approximately 51 miles it stretches. The lesser-known numbers, however, deal with far less glamorous facts.
Back in the 1880s, when the first few serious attempts at the canal were made by the French, tens of thousands of workers were involved. However, Panama’s climate was so different from France’s, and thus the diseases were too. Tropical illnesses plagued the European workers, and thousands would die of sickness alone. As America began to take over the effort in the early 1900s, they too found laborers dying of yellow fever and malaria. Though a public health campaign in the canal zone resulted in fumigation and treatments against the mosquito population, in the year 1906, about 80% of the workers were still hospitalized for malaria. Many laborers who drank quinine to prevent malaria even became partially deaf.
Aside from sickness, construction and excavation accidents were the largest cause of death after 1909. In what was known as "Hell’s Gorge," workers were carving out hunks of earth using explosives—over 60 million pounds of dynamite—and heavy machinery. Unfortunately for the workers, the hot, humid climate and the unpredictable machines would sometimes detonate unused charges. One accident in 1908 killed 23 men alone.
As one can imagine, the technology of the early 20th century was not quite suited for the oppressive and demanding conditions that surrounded the building of the Panama Canal. Combined with the partial deafness many workers gained due to quinine and thundering machinery, these machines were danger zones. Many workers at the time described work in "Hell’s Gorge" as going into an active warzone, as casualties and on-site hospitals resembled a battlefield. Misjudgment, heavy machinery, and unsuitable working conditions led to the United States recording 5,855 deaths from 1904-1913 alone.
It was so common for workers to be maimed that amputation became routine. By 1908, prosthetic limb manufacturers started racing for capital over the canal site, going so far as to brag about their waterproof arms and legs and vying for contracts—they even advertised their limbs in the paper and in medical journals. One manufacturer made over 200 limbs by 1912.
Though America held control over the canal at this point, laborers came from far and wide to find jobs. Due to crashing economies, like those of the sugar market, tens of thousands of workers arrived from Barbados, Spain, and Jamaica, among others. Administrators in construction hoped that their pure need for work would keep the construction going through poor working conditions and death tolls, and they were right.
Over at least 30 years, from French ownership to American, over 25,000 lives were claimed by the building of the Panama Canal. And the devastation extended beyond human life: The flooding of the carved-out canal resulted in the loss of many villages and forests, displacing both people and wildlife.
A lasting legacy
The history of the Panama Canal is staggering, and so the impact of this revolutionary waterway on the present. Panama’s economy continues to thrive with the tens of thousands of jobs it supplies to local communities, not to mention the added tourism that adds income to local businesses. Globally, the canal carries over 500 million tons of cargo around the world, connecting and supplying for a plethora of countries, the top three being the United States, China, and Japan. The Panama Canal has charted a new economic age, for both Central America and the world.
Learn about the controversial history and continued significance of the Panama Canal, and enjoy a partial transit, during New! Panama & Costa Rica: From Canal to Cloud Forest.
