Written by Tadashi
Published: 12 Jan 2022
Reviewed by Sherman Smith
Today, the Panama Canal stands as a testament to the engineering capabilities of the modern world. Cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, the canal allows ships to pass between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in a matter of hours. Learn more about this wonder of modern engineering with these 40 Panama Canal facts.
- The Panama Canal cuts across 82 km of the Isthmus of Panama to link the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean together.
- In its first year of operation alone, an estimated 1000 ships passed through the canal.
- Today, an estimated 15,000 ships pass through the canal every single year.
- Statistics estimate that over 333 million tons of shipping have passed through the canal since its opening.
- In terms of ships, that means over 800,000 ships have passed through the canal since it first opened.
- Charles V of Spain first considered digging a canal in Panama during the 16th century.
- Britain also began considering a canal in Panama in the 17th century.
- Then-US Ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson, encouraged Spain to start working on the canal in the late-18th century.
- Both Britain and the USA made plans to dig a canal in Central America during the early-19th century.
- The completion of the Panama Railroad in 1850 increased support for a canal in the region.
- France also expressed interest in a canal in 1877, encouraged by their completion of the Suez Canal in Egypt.
- In 1881, the French began work on the Panama Canal.
- The USA took over France’s efforts in the 1900s.
- Work on the canal stalled at the time as a result of war in the region.
- The USA would ultimately succeed in completing the Panama Canal in 1914.
- Today, the Panama Canal counts as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
- The USA once considered expanding the canal during WWII to allow warships to pass.
- It usually takes around 11 hours for ships to pass through the canal.
- Before the canal’s completion, ships had to go around Cape Horn, passing through either Drake Passage or the Straits of Magellan around the tip of South America.
- They could also go north, and risk passing through the ice-covered Arctic Archipelago and Bering Strait.
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