Essay/Term paper: Panama canal as a chokepoint

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Miscellaneous

Truly one of the great engineering feats of all time, the

Canal is an absolute must. 80 kilometers in length, with

some of it hewn from solid rock, the Canal gives passage

to all types of vessels, from huge tankers to the Queen

Elizabeth II.



Designed at the turn of the century and operating since

1914. Even by today's standards it is awesome to see a

container ship gliding through massive locks and past a rain

forest.



The French started a canal in 1880 under De Lesseps,

builder of the Suez Canal, but after 20 years of struggle

with the jungle, disease, financial problems and the sheer

enormity of the project, they were forced to give up.



In 1903 a Frenchman, acting as ambassador of Panama

signed a treaty giving perpetual rights to USA. The French

canal company's property was sold for $40M and the

digging began. On August 15th, 1914 the US cargo ship

"Ancon" made the first transit.







The Panama canal has 3 sets of locks that take care of

raising and lowering the ships 54 feet to the next stage of

their journey. These locks are Miraflores and Pedro Miguel

on the Pacific side and Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side.



The strategic importance of the Panama Canal was it made

a short and easy route from the Atlantic Ocean to the

Pacific Ocean. It cut off many miles of travel and saved

ships from having to travel all the way around South

America. Time and money was saved by using the Panama

Canal and made trade with the western world possible.