In 1977, the Panama Canal treaty fails to pass in the United Nations and goes back to the drawing board. Around the same time, the Carter Administration decides to undergo a slow transition of the Panama Canal from the United States to the Panama government, with a complete transition completing at the end of the millennia. As a result of all this, the Soviet Union continues to have its access to the canal blocked. With no other options for trans-oceanic shipping, the soviets make a deal with the new Nicaraguan revolutionary government to build a new canal (and turn Costa Rica into the world’s newest island nation). The Soviets will supply engineers, materials, and finances, all the Nicaraguan’s had to supply, is the dirt, water, and people.
The Canal is fraught with trouble from the beginning. While Somoza government was overthrown, Contras still operate throughout the county, who attack and sabotage the canal. These attacks cause significant delays well into the 1980s. It wasn’t until 1988 when the canal finally reached from the Atlantic to Lake Nicaragua, 5 years over schedule and over 3 billion us dollars over budget. Some of this had to do with corruption in the highest ranks of the joint administration managing construction. Both Soviet and Nicaraguan officials alike, occasionally taking, “Research Trips” to Panama, Costa Rica, and Cuba.
Eventually, the canal was finally complete in 1990, finishing the largest canal the world has ever seen. Although construction was difficult and expensive, it was still completed a whole 20 years faster than the Panama Canal. And just one year later, the Soviet Union would collapse, barely being able to enjoy the fruits of its labor. A length international legal battle ensued with the new Russian government after.
In more recent times the Nicaraguan Grand Canal is now under the full administration of the Nicaraguan government. True to her word, the United States also granted full control to the Panama Canal to the Panama government, in 2000. While both canals are almost equivalent in ability to transport, the Nicaraguan canal is unfortunately seen as the “lesser” canal. Due to its significantly longer route, it charges lower tolls and other fairs for travel. Because of this, it has less money to repair rushed soviet constructions. On top of that, in 2022 a ship known as the Douglas Fir became wedged in Voskhod Reach due to operator error, which became a massive internet meme. In 2024 the Nicaraguan Government announced a massive 10 year project to repair and update the canal, replacing aging works build in the 80s and possibly create a new pacific entrance into Lake Nicaragua.
Shout-out to Thomas Römer, your Panama Canal map on Wikipedia was a huge inspiration for the style of the map. Also, I’m not a civil engineer, so I’m sure that a lot of my locks and canals don’t make sense. But the reason that the canal isn’t further south (because it’s shorter down there) is because I didn’t think about it until after I made the map and it looked prettier this way. But lore reasons would probably be because it’s a massive rain forest and… I dunno, 1970s environmentalism?
