Panama Canal Research Paper
Part I: Evaluation and Identification of sources and background on Panama Canal
Research Question: Was the creation of the Panama Canal attentive to the environmental implications towards the population or was it solely based on naval power?
The Panama Canal is a man-made canal running 48 miles through Panama, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It allows ships to pass through the area with a very complicated system of locks and water-pools. Before the creation of the Panama Canal, the only way to get from the east side of the US to the west by boat was by rounding the very dangerous southern edge of South America, Cape Horn. The creation of the canal cut thousand of miles off of ocean liner trips.
One of the resources used is an …show more content…
ICE Case Study on the Panama Canal’s strategic advantages that was published by Mister Benjamin Bodnar on May 10, 2006. It was written on the creation of the Panama Canal, its contribution to naval travel, and the controversy behind its creation. Bodnar has many credits for his work on this ICE Case Study and is used as a resource for many such papers about the creation of the Panama Canal. He is also credited in studies about American Imperialism in Panama during the creation of the Panama Canal. These credits make him a highly reputable resource for such a study. The ICE case study is specifically leaning towards a factual description of the building of the Panama Canal and a description of how it affected the US Military during the Colombian War with regards to the liberation of Panama.. It accurately goes into detail about how the building of the Panama Canal aided the US during the Colombian War. It also talks of how it helped to minimize casualties during the Panama liberation, with only 2 deaths during the shelling. It has multiple limitations though, as it does not describe the effects on the people of Panama and it also does not recount any form of hardship that the Panama Canal’s building caused by cutting through the middle of Panama. It also talks of the environmental effects on Panama during the building.
My other main source is a book written by Mister David Gaub McCullough called The Path Between the Seas. It was published in 1977 and won the U.S. National Book Award in History, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award and the Cornelius Ryan Award Mister. McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award. The Path Between the Seas blends politics, economics, medicine and engineering into a great story that goes into depth on the surroundings of the creation of the canal, instead of the main operation itself. It has nothing in the way of limitations, as Mr. McCullough is a very good authority and is well researched on the subject. President Carter has even said that the treaties passing control of the canal to Panama would not have passed the U.S. Senate had it not been for McCullough's book. The book was quoted multiple times by both sides during Congress.
Section II: Analysis
Events leading to intervention in Panama Canal by Theodore Roosevelt and U.S.:
Initial plans to create the route through the Isthmus of Panama were created as “far back as the early 16th century, when the Spanish thoroughly dominated the region.” (Bodnar 2) Later, a French entrepreneur, Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps, made plans to create a canal through the Isthmus of Panama for trade purposes.
“He had all the nerve, persistence, dynamic energy, a talent for propaganda, a capacity for deception, and imagination,” (McCullough 53) but due to multiple complications in the build and workers dying off in droves the U.S. started to help for their own interests, such as “Sowing its oats as a world power” (Wagtendonk 2). The canal was eventually finished in 1914, after nearly 30 years of work. The U.S. then paid “$10 million (Now with inflation: $241,729,000) in gold, and an annual payment of $250,000 thereafter” (McCullough, 332) to the Panama government in order to have control of the canal zone. Construction started on January 1, 1881 and ended August 15, …show more content…
1914.
Colombia did not want to let the U.S. start building in the then-province of Panama. So the Panamanians declared independence, prompting a U.S. intervention. The arrival of the U.S.S. Nashville made the Colombian government give up very easily. This led to the start of the U.S.’s naval dominance due to the Panama canal. Deaths started piling up as well during the building of the Panama Canal, where “nearly 40 people were dying every day during the year of 1885” (McCullough 172). By the end of construction, there were nearly 25,000 worker deaths, 5,000 of which being American workers.
The building of the Panama Canal was highly useful in the US’s military dominance over the next century. It allowed the U.S. to get boats from the west coast to the Gulf of Mexico. This was instrumental, as it took countless hours, days and months off the trips across over a century of use. It allowed boats to go through a thin sliver of land instead of going around Cape Horn, a dangerous, icy area at the tip of South America. It still takes months to get around Cape Horn, so the Panama Canal continues to be a faster, better, safer, and warmer option to cross from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.
Due to the removal of the fifteen thousand mile trip around Cape Horn trips to the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the Pacific and Atlantic theaters, the U.S. Military was able to cut months of useless travel off of journeys. “The average cost to cross the canal is $10,000, which is nearly 8 times less than the normal rate of going around Cape Horn” (McCullough 612) and now it is not such a big deal to get one ship from one side of the country to the other, allowing the U.S. to get its ships to where it needs to defend itself faster. It allowed shipyards on both sides of the U.S. to function at the same pace, building ships that could get to the west side of the country even though they were build on the east side and vice versa. During the conflicts in the Middle East, ships built on the west side of the U.S. were able to pass through the Panama Canal in order to get to where the conflicts were to help without having to pass through Europe. They could bring supplies and troops and aircraft over to the area where they were needed. The canal allowed the U.S. to spread their military power to South America and establish bases that kept the Americas safe from potential invading forces during the World Wars. The Panama Canal was also very useful for transferring needed ships to critical areas. Boats built in the east coast shipyards could send their ships through the Panama Canal and also test them at the same time. These boats would then go over to the Pacific theatre, where they were enlisted against the Japanese Empire.
Although there were positives to the creation of the Panama Canal, there are also negatives, such as the environmental devastation that was its creation.
The workers of the Canal deforested and destroyed an area of land that animals, people, and plant life all cohabitated in. The workers on the canal dug a 48 mile long, 110 feet wide "through-cut," (McCullough 44) into the Earth, with very little in the way of power tools. Deaths started piling up as well during the building of the Panama Canal, where “nearly 40 people were dying every day during the year of 1885” (McCullough 172). By the end of building, there were nearly 25,000 worker deaths, 5,000 of which being American workers.A single skyscraper might go up and maybe two or three people will die in tragic accidents. But if 25,000 died in a project today, there would be mass media coverage and protests and unions shutting that place down to an incomprehensible
extent.
During the building of the canal itself, the workers of the canal dug through the Isthmus of Panama, the thinnest strip of land that connected both the oceans. This means they not only completely deforested and dug out the area, they annihilated an entire strip of the environment. This means that nothing will ever live there anymore. “The environmental problems that are being focused on today are the depletion of the rainforest, which in turn reduces the crucial amount of freshwater flowing into Lake Gatun” (Bodnar 6). Also with the creation of housing for workers and their families they are again taking away from the natural habitat of the animals around that area. The most important resource of the Panama canal is the water used to transport ships. “Rainwater is collected in the nearby lake, which is kept there for Panama’s dry season” (Bodnar 6/7). The rainforest was always used to collect water for the lake and keep it flowing, but due to deforestation, the lake has less water, which means they can’t use the canal as much. All these factors have lowered the biodiversity of the area.
There was also massively wide-spread disease, such as malaria and yellow-fever. These two diseases hospitalized nearly 85% of the workforce on the Panama Canal. It severely affected the building of the canal, as it stopped most of the workforce, and one mention of the disease would send workers away by the boatload. Since the workers got infected, the mosquitoes had more to spread around, and it severely hurt the new nation of Panama. It got the workforce of the canal, people, livestock, and animals all sick. It basically started the nation of Panama with an epidemic that took many lives, both workers and citizens alike. Due to the fact that mosquitoes were originally not believed to be a main spreader of the disease, there were little to no precautions taken to stop the disease's spread. “The U.S. did though have Dr. Gorgas who had developed treatment for Malaria and Yellow Fever, which were the main source of diseases in the region.” (Bodnar 4)
Conclusion:
After over a century of use, thousands of ships transported, and millions of miles cut off of journeys, it can be definitively said that the building of the Panama Canal kept the US and its allies better protected by the allowance of ships passing through the isthmus of Panama. The creation of the canal created the country of Panama itself, as the US liberated it from Colombia. The slice of environment in Panama was indeed destroyed by the creation of the canal. But the environment around it eventually came back. The creation and maintenance of the canal also created a lot of jobs for surrounding areas and an economy just around that one area.
Research Question: Was the creation of the Panama Canal attentive to the environmental implications towards the population or was it solely based on naval power?
The Panama Canal is a man-made canal running 48 miles through Panama, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It allows ships to pass through the area with a very complicated system of locks and water-pools. Before the creation of the Panama Canal, the only way to get from the east side of the US to the west by boat was by rounding the very dangerous southern edge of South America, Cape Horn. The creation of the canal cut thousand of miles off of ocean liner trips.
One of the resources used is an …show more content…
ICE Case Study on the Panama Canal’s strategic advantages that was published by Mister Benjamin Bodnar on May 10, 2006. It was written on the creation of the Panama Canal, its contribution to naval travel, and the controversy behind its creation. Bodnar has many credits for his work on this ICE Case Study and is used as a resource for many such papers about the creation of the Panama Canal. He is also credited in studies about American Imperialism in Panama during the creation of the Panama Canal. These credits make him a highly reputable resource for such a study. The ICE case study is specifically leaning towards a factual description of the building of the Panama Canal and a description of how it affected the US Military during the Colombian War with regards to the liberation of Panama.. It accurately goes into detail about how the building of the Panama Canal aided the US during the Colombian War. It also talks of how it helped to minimize casualties during the Panama liberation, with only 2 deaths during the shelling. It has multiple limitations though, as it does not describe the effects on the people of Panama and it also does not recount any form of hardship that the Panama Canal’s building caused by cutting through the middle of Panama. It also talks of the environmental effects on Panama during the building.
My other main source is a book written by Mister David Gaub McCullough called The Path Between the Seas. It was published in 1977 and won the U.S. National Book Award in History, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award and the Cornelius Ryan Award Mister. McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award. The Path Between the Seas blends politics, economics, medicine and engineering into a great story that goes into depth on the surroundings of the creation of the canal, instead of the main operation itself. It has nothing in the way of limitations, as Mr. McCullough is a very good authority and is well researched on the subject. President Carter has even said that the treaties passing control of the canal to Panama would not have passed the U.S. Senate had it not been for McCullough's book. The book was quoted multiple times by both sides during Congress.
Section II: Analysis
Events leading to intervention in Panama Canal by Theodore Roosevelt and U.S.:
Initial plans to create the route through the Isthmus of Panama were created as “far back as the early 16th century, when the Spanish thoroughly dominated the region.” (Bodnar 2) Later, a French entrepreneur, Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps, made plans to create a canal through the Isthmus of Panama for trade purposes.
“He had all the nerve, persistence, dynamic energy, a talent for propaganda, a capacity for deception, and imagination,” (McCullough 53) but due to multiple complications in the build and workers dying off in droves the U.S. started to help for their own interests, such as “Sowing its oats as a world power” (Wagtendonk 2). The canal was eventually finished in 1914, after nearly 30 years of work. The U.S. then paid “$10 million (Now with inflation: $241,729,000) in gold, and an annual payment of $250,000 thereafter” (McCullough, 332) to the Panama government in order to have control of the canal zone. Construction started on January 1, 1881 and ended August 15, …show more content…
1914.
Colombia did not want to let the U.S. start building in the then-province of Panama. So the Panamanians declared independence, prompting a U.S. intervention. The arrival of the U.S.S. Nashville made the Colombian government give up very easily. This led to the start of the U.S.’s naval dominance due to the Panama canal. Deaths started piling up as well during the building of the Panama Canal, where “nearly 40 people were dying every day during the year of 1885” (McCullough 172). By the end of construction, there were nearly 25,000 worker deaths, 5,000 of which being American workers.
The building of the Panama Canal was highly useful in the US’s military dominance over the next century. It allowed the U.S. to get boats from the west coast to the Gulf of Mexico. This was instrumental, as it took countless hours, days and months off the trips across over a century of use. It allowed boats to go through a thin sliver of land instead of going around Cape Horn, a dangerous, icy area at the tip of South America. It still takes months to get around Cape Horn, so the Panama Canal continues to be a faster, better, safer, and warmer option to cross from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.
Due to the removal of the fifteen thousand mile trip around Cape Horn trips to the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the Pacific and Atlantic theaters, the U.S. Military was able to cut months of useless travel off of journeys. “The average cost to cross the canal is $10,000, which is nearly 8 times less than the normal rate of going around Cape Horn” (McCullough 612) and now it is not such a big deal to get one ship from one side of the country to the other, allowing the U.S. to get its ships to where it needs to defend itself faster. It allowed shipyards on both sides of the U.S. to function at the same pace, building ships that could get to the west side of the country even though they were build on the east side and vice versa. During the conflicts in the Middle East, ships built on the west side of the U.S. were able to pass through the Panama Canal in order to get to where the conflicts were to help without having to pass through Europe. They could bring supplies and troops and aircraft over to the area where they were needed. The canal allowed the U.S. to spread their military power to South America and establish bases that kept the Americas safe from potential invading forces during the World Wars. The Panama Canal was also very useful for transferring needed ships to critical areas. Boats built in the east coast shipyards could send their ships through the Panama Canal and also test them at the same time. These boats would then go over to the Pacific theatre, where they were enlisted against the Japanese Empire.
Although there were positives to the creation of the Panama Canal, there are also negatives, such as the environmental devastation that was its creation.
The workers of the Canal deforested and destroyed an area of land that animals, people, and plant life all cohabitated in. The workers on the canal dug a 48 mile long, 110 feet wide "through-cut," (McCullough 44) into the Earth, with very little in the way of power tools. Deaths started piling up as well during the building of the Panama Canal, where “nearly 40 people were dying every day during the year of 1885” (McCullough 172). By the end of building, there were nearly 25,000 worker deaths, 5,000 of which being American workers.A single skyscraper might go up and maybe two or three people will die in tragic accidents. But if 25,000 died in a project today, there would be mass media coverage and protests and unions shutting that place down to an incomprehensible
extent.
During the building of the canal itself, the workers of the canal dug through the Isthmus of Panama, the thinnest strip of land that connected both the oceans. This means they not only completely deforested and dug out the area, they annihilated an entire strip of the environment. This means that nothing will ever live there anymore. “The environmental problems that are being focused on today are the depletion of the rainforest, which in turn reduces the crucial amount of freshwater flowing into Lake Gatun” (Bodnar 6). Also with the creation of housing for workers and their families they are again taking away from the natural habitat of the animals around that area. The most important resource of the Panama canal is the water used to transport ships. “Rainwater is collected in the nearby lake, which is kept there for Panama’s dry season” (Bodnar 6/7). The rainforest was always used to collect water for the lake and keep it flowing, but due to deforestation, the lake has less water, which means they can’t use the canal as much. All these factors have lowered the biodiversity of the area.
There was also massively wide-spread disease, such as malaria and yellow-fever. These two diseases hospitalized nearly 85% of the workforce on the Panama Canal. It severely affected the building of the canal, as it stopped most of the workforce, and one mention of the disease would send workers away by the boatload. Since the workers got infected, the mosquitoes had more to spread around, and it severely hurt the new nation of Panama. It got the workforce of the canal, people, livestock, and animals all sick. It basically started the nation of Panama with an epidemic that took many lives, both workers and citizens alike. Due to the fact that mosquitoes were originally not believed to be a main spreader of the disease, there were little to no precautions taken to stop the disease's spread. “The U.S. did though have Dr. Gorgas who had developed treatment for Malaria and Yellow Fever, which were the main source of diseases in the region.” (Bodnar 4)
Conclusion:
After over a century of use, thousands of ships transported, and millions of miles cut off of journeys, it can be definitively said that the building of the Panama Canal kept the US and its allies better protected by the allowance of ships passing through the isthmus of Panama. The creation of the canal created the country of Panama itself, as the US liberated it from Colombia. The slice of environment in Panama was indeed destroyed by the creation of the canal. But the environment around it eventually came back. The creation and maintenance of the canal also created a lot of jobs for surrounding areas and an economy just around that one area.