Turning Point In History: The Panama Canal

Macey Warring

Mrs. Peterson

REACH Language Arts

Turning Point in History - The Panama Canal “My impression about the Panama Canal is that the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between the east and the west coast of the United States” (William Howard Taft). After a long debate between the U.S. council members, the diggers of the canal finally broke ground undertaking the largest and most complex building project in the history of the world. The canal took a total of ten years to dig, leading to the grand opening in 1914. The opening of the Panama Canal allowed ships to pass through the middle of Central America and cut the time of shipping goods in half. By opening the Panama Canal world

As the turn of the century was approaching, trade between countries was flourishing thus increasing the need for the new canal. The only way to ship goods from the Atlantic to the Pacific was to sail all the way around Cape Horn, South America which was the home of treacherous waters. Sailing around Cape Horn has never been an easy task due to the constant high tides, stormy weather, unbearable winds, and uneven rocks. Stretching over the past 277 years over twenty nine ships have gone down trying to sail around cape horn each carrying over a hundred or more ship mates and thousand of pounds of goods all lost with the ship. As the need for the canal grew the United States began debating whether or not they should take on the job of digging the canal. “For hundreds of years, if anyone wanted to sail west from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, they had no choice . They had to round the horn (Go around cape horn) and surviving the trip became the sign of a truly brave sea man”(What is the Panama Canal). With ships constantly capsizing and sinking due to the undesirable weather around Cape Horn the need for the canal only increased over time due to how much world trade/travel was happening in the nineteenth century and how the world was evolving and expanding its boundaries with other countries and global trade.“A canal across Panama would

In own time, the American society of civil engineers has named it one of the seven wonders of the modern world”(What is the Panama Canal?). Nothing in the modern world could compare to the Panama Canal and the way it let alone changed world trade but the world itself. “After the Panama Canal was dug it quickly became an important part of the world's economic life. Soon, almost fourteen thousand ships a year were using the Panama Canal”(What is the Panama Canal?). Ordering items off line or even building supplies and have them being shipped right to your town has become a huge part of the way people shop. When shipping goods most companies tend to use the Panama Canal (If needed) to transport the goods faster and safer. The canal has become so common in our everyday life but we have never realized how much of an asset it is because we have never been in a lifetime where it wasn't