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The Panama Canal Beneficial Effect

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The Canals Beneficial Effect
The panama canal became one of the seven wonders of the modern world in 1994. It was one of the greatest infrastructures built during that time period. By August of 1914, the canal was finished. It changed the world of commerce, and became one of the two most famous waterways in the world. The creation of the Panama Canal has had a positive effect on trade and transportation to this day.
The start of this canal was during Theodore Roosevelt 's presidency, beginning in 1904. The Panama Canal was built under a lock-equipped system. The other original option being a sea-level canal. The canal was finished by 1914. The project as a whole was guided under the Isthmian Canal Commission. In order to make the process …show more content…

It allows anything from large vessels to small ships to pass through the locks, transporting vehicles, food, lumber, and oil. A 12,000 mile trip that originally took 67 days now could take 4,000 miles. The amount of ships that can pass through a day is astonishing. With that being said, approximately 14,000 watercraft travel through the canal everyday (Leafgroup and Lively). About 5% of the world 's water shipping is through the Panama Canal. The amount of ships that go through the canal does differ each year (Dolan, page 96). 86 feet above sea level, vessels can travel through the canal 48 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific ocean. Before the Panama Canal ships would have to sail around the southernmost point of South America making trips an inconvenience, and not as reliable. They can now take the shortcut through the Panamanian isthmus making trips more efficient (Sohns). The U.S uses the canal the most frequently, with Japan right behind. Therefore most of the the trade done by the U.S is to Central or South America. President Roosevelt had wanted naval ships to be able to pass through the Atlantic and Pacific in a quicker manor. In order to achieve this, the United States helped fund Panama 's revolution, leading the U.S to buy rights of the canal from Panama for $10 million (Leafgroup and …show more content…

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