When did the Panama Canal open?
The Panama Canal opens
El canal de Panamá
15 August 1914. The United States, having backed Panama's separation from Colombia in November 1903, signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla treaty with the new republic's French envoy:…
Draft: not yet checked against its sources.
Where: Central America, The Spanish Caribbean, Panama, United States
What happened
The United States, having backed Panama's separation from Colombia in November 1903, signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla treaty with the new republic's French envoy: a canal zone about ten miles wide under US control, ten million dollars and an annual payment, and a US guarantee of Panama's independence. American engineers chose a lock canal, drained the mosquito swamps and employed tens of thousands of labourers, most from the British Caribbean. The canal was completed in 1914, and the first ship passed on 15 August. The Zone, with its own towns, schools and English, divided the country in two until the Torrijos–Carter treaties of 1977 returned the canal to Panama on 31 December 1999.
Say it
El canal de Panamá se abrió en 1914 y volvió a Panamá en 1999.
The Panama Canal opened in 1914 and returned to Panama in 1999.
Why it matters
The canal made Panama, gave it the dollar and a bilingual, Caribbean-flavoured culture, and for most of a century made the isthmus the sharpest symbol of US power in Latin America. Its return in 1999 is Panama's second independence.
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Connected
- The Thousand Days' War and the loss of Panama (October 1899–3 November 1903)
- The Thousand Days' War and the loss of Panama (October 1899–3 November 1903)
- The banana massacre at Ciénaga (6 December 1928)
- Esquipulas II: peace for Central America (7 August 1987)
- Before: The Thousand Days' War and the loss of Panama
- After: Esquipulas II: peace for Central America
Sources
- Building the Panama Canal, 1903–1914 — Office of the Historian, US Department of State