Introduction The Panama Canal greatly affected trade and travel around the world. Before the canal, shipping boats had to go all the way around South America. With the canal, shipping by boat was made much easier than before. Travel through the canal also improved the safety of many travelers heading around the continent. Now, instead of going all the way around the continent, and getting mauled by storms and icebergs through the Drake Passage, they could simply float right through the canal. The canal also saved so much fuel, in this case coal, from getting used up and wasted. The distance to the other side of the country was not as far, and now steamboats or just gasoline powered boats don’t need to waste so much essential power. Clearly, the canal has improved trade and travel so much around the world.
Background
The Panama Canal is an amazing geographical masterpiece. The canal stretches all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It goes right across the middle of the isthmus of Panama. The
…show more content…
To start out, in 1903 a major treaty involving United States Secretary of State, John Hay, and a French Engineer, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, was signed. This treaty stated that the Republic of Panama would lease the land to the United States so they could build on the thin isthmus of Panama. The payment of the canal was a big sum of money. The United States agreed to pay Panama ten million dollars and an annual payment of 250,000 dollars for the canal. This treaty was offered to the Colombian government as well. Before Panama declared its independence, the United States offered the same amount of money to the Colombians, but they refused. As a result, when Panama gained its independence from Colombia, they signed the treaty offered by the United States. In the end, this important treaty helped the United States build such a huge canal through