Panama Canal Research Paper

The international waterway known as the Panama Canal allows ships to cut voyages by thousands of miles. Not having to go all the way around the southern tip of South America cuts about 8000 miles from a trip, from Matt Rosenburg, “Geographyabout.com” http://geography.about.com/od/specificplacesofinterest/a/panamacanal.htm accesed 1/2/13. The Panama Canal is obviously a very important perk for any country wanted to trade goods around that area, it was very hard to maintain but well worth it. Many people know that the United States succeeded in opening the canal in 1914 but what people actually don’t know is that England tried to open it originally and failed. Around 22,000 people died during the process of building the canal, it was somewhat worth it though because voyaging all the way around the continent wasn't exactly safe.

The 48 mile long canal that joins the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Is well known as one of the largest and most daring engineering projects ever, when the french attempted, 22,000 people died from malaria, yellow fever, and landslides. As far as the exact location of the canal goes, It’s located in Panama, Panama, in South America. It is
President Theodore Roosevelt bought the french’s equipment and excavations for $40 million dollars. They started working on May 4th, 1904. When they took over construction the Canal Commission put Colonel William Crawford Gorgas in charge of the hospitals and sanitation. This included clearing land and establishing quarantine facilities, he divided Panama into eleven districts. Each of the district inspectors searched houses and buildings for mosquito larvae. If they found any, carpenters would be sent to the building and they would eliminate any places where stagnant water could collect. This reduced the number of deaths drastically during these times and really helps things go much