Panama Canal
Canal de Panamá
- Date
- 15 de agosto de 1914 · confidence high
- Place
- Miraflores Locks, Panama City, Panama
- Credited to
- United States (John F. Stevens, George Goethals); sanitation campaign of William Gorgas
- Field
- Movement
What it is
An 80 km canal with three sets of locks and an artificial lake linking the Atlantic and the Pacific. Its construction was possible after eliminating yellow fever and controlling malaria with mosquito-based measures.
The French attempted the canal (1881-1889) under de Lesseps and failed because of disease and geology. It opened on 15 August 1914 with the passage of the steamship Ancón.
What it led to
- Shorter sea routes between the American coasts
- Expansion of world trade
- Large-scale application of tropical hygiene