Panama Canal Construction: French Start (1881), US Completion (1914)

French Effort (1881–1889)

• Leader: Ferdinand de Lesseps (Suez Canal fame)
• Plan: Sea-level canal (like Suez)
• Failures: Tropical diseases (malaria, yellow fever – 22,000+ deaths), landslides, corruption, financial collapse (Panama Scandal)
• Abandoned 1889 – Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique bankrupt

US Effort (1904–1914)

• Treaty: Hay–Bunau-Varilla (1903) – US gets Canal Zone
• Chief Engineer: John Stevens → George Washington Goethals
• Key Changes: Lock-based design (Gatun Lake), massive sanitation (Gorgas), rail logistics
• Opened: August 15, 1914 (SS Ancon first transit)
• Cost: $375M (largest US project then); 5,600 US-era deaths

Transition

US bought French assets ($40M) & Panama rights ($10M). Torrijos–Carter Treaties (1977) → full Panama control Dec 31, 1999.