Important History of the Panama Canal
President Theodore Roosevelt enjoyed many impactful achievements during his presidency, including the realization of one of the country's long-term goals: the construction of a trans-isthmian canal. Throughout the 19th century, the American and British governments, along with prominent business leaders, desired a means of quickly and cheaply shipping goods between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. With this goal in mind, the nations began collaborating on a joint project in 1850; however, the Anglo-American canal in the Central American Republic of Nicaragua never progressed beyond initial planning stages.
Meanwhile, France engaged the Province of Colombia in more productive discussions about the construction of a canal through Panama. Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had previously built the Suez Canal in Egypt, led the project, which began excavating in 1880. The project proved extremely arduous, with laborers succumbing to yellow fever, malaria, and a myriad of other tropical diseases. An estimated 20,000 workers perished during the nine-year project, which de Lesseps ultimately abandoned before the turn of the century.
American interest in the Panama Canal, however, remained unabated. President Roosevelt oversaw the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty in 1901, which supplanted the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and permitted American builders to construct and maintain their own canal in the region. Following extensive, intense discussions, the United States Senate opted to build the canal in Panama. Within just six months, Secretary of State John Hay had completed a treaty with Colombian Foreign Minister Tomás Herrán that outlined plans for the canal.
Initially, the Colombian government deemed the financial terms of the deal untenable and rejected the agreement. In response, President Roosevelt sent US warships to Panama City on the Pacific coast and Colón on the Atlantic coast, effectively laying siege to Colombia, with a goal of facilitating Panamanian independence. Colombian ground forces struggled to navigate the harsh jungle environments of Panama, and the country successfully announced its independence in 1903.
With a new ally in the Republic of Panama, Roosevelt began talks with Philippe Bunau-Varilla, the French engineer who had worked on de Lesseps' canal project. Varilla served the new Panama government as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, allowing him to renegotiate the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903. The resulting agreement allotted the US a 10-mile strip of land for canal construction at the cost of $10 million, up front, plus an annual annuity of $250,000. More importantly for the Republic of Panama, the US agreed to uphold Panamanian independence.
With the legal framework now in place, American builders set to work on the Panama Canal, which took more than a decade to finish. Upon its completion in 1914, the Panama Canal stood as a symbol of America's technological advances and economic influence. At the time, the canal also represented an impressive foreign policy achievement, linking the US to an emerging Central American nation.
Over time, however, control of the Panama Canal has proven a point of contention and an irritant to American-Panamanian relations. In 1977, two important pieces of legislation went into effect. First, the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal, also known as the Neutrality Treaty, permitted America to use military power in defense of the Panama Canal against any threat to the region's neutrality, effectively granting America perpetual usage of the canal. The Panama Canal Treaty, meanwhile, described the elimination of the Panama Canal Zone in October 1979, with operations and ownership of the Panama Canal transferring to the Panamanian government on December 31, 1999.