Derick C. Davidson
The Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Canal is a
great resource that cuts trade times in almost half so transport ships do not have to travel as far. Many
people throughout history discovered the easy path from the Atlantic to the pacific at this place in
Panama. In 1881, the French began to construct the Panama canal, but soon after stopped because of
the high mortality rate. The U.S. took over the project in 1904, with head engineer John Findley Wallace.
With three different engineers, the U.S. opened the Canal in 1914. The U.S. controlled the canal until
1977 when they released the canal authoritative rights to the country of Panama with the Torrijos-Carter
Treaties. Since 1977, the government of Panama has formed the Panama Canal Authority, to operate
and run the canal.
The Panama Canal is now under an expansion project to operate at a much larger scale. The
Canal cannot handle 37% of the world’s container ships because of how large they were, so it makes
