Well as the mountaineers often say “because it’s there”. Not quite; but despite our years of roaming neither of us has been to Central America (Mexico dose not count as it is still North America) so, as the Canal is a fascinating destination, this cruise, that combines a full transit and short visits to a handful of places we had not been to before, seemed a good idea. Apart from that climbing into upper berths of Indian trains and 20 hour flights in coach were getting a little beyond our old bones!
The history of the canal is fascinating and if you are not familiar with it, a pretty comprehensive version is available HERE so I will not detail . A few bullet points will give you the gist.
- Initially started by the French in 1882 under the direction of Ferdinand De Lesseps builder of the Suez Canal.Yellow fever, malaria,corruption, and the shear enormity of the project caused the French to abandon the effort in 1988/9 .
- The US driven by its desire for domination of world trade and domestic expansion needed an effective route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Colombia ( at the time Panama was part of Colombia) rejected United States’ plans to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The U.S. supported a revolution that led to the independence of Panama in 1903.
- A treaty was signed between the new country of Panama and the US which ceded control , “in perpetuity”, of a 50 mile wide strip of land splitting Panama in two!
- Between 1904 and 1914 the unbelievably difficult and dangerous civil engineering and organizational task of cutting the canal was done.
- In the 1960’s Panamanian nationalism lead to anti US riots. In view of the enormous commercial and strategic importance of the canal an agreement was negotiated that in 1979 60% of the ceded land would be returned to Panama. The remaining 40% was returned in a very smooth transition in 1999.
- The 1977 treaty declared the canal as a “Neutral International Waterway”; even in times of war any vessel is guaranteed safe passage
- Defense of the canal is a joint responsibility of the US and Panama.
If you are interested in the extensive details of the politics and engineering involved in this project there is a prodigious amount available on it on the web (Google is your friend!) and your local library.
