The Panama Canal, dug more than 100 years ago, has long been in need of modernization. Its capacity left much to be desired: ships sometimes had to wait for their turn for several days. In addition, the century-old locks did not correspond to the dimensions and tonnage of modern ships.
Work to update the channel began in 2007. Over the course of 9 years, the width of the locks was increased from 34 to 55 meters, and the depth - from 12 to 18 meters. As a result of the reconstruction, which cost $5.4 billion, the throughput of the artificial water artery increased from 300 to 600 million tons per year, and most importantly, the canal became adapted for tankers transporting liquefied gas. The maximum displacement of ships increased to 150,000 tons.
Globally
The opening of the Panama Canal 2.0 is a global event. At least, this is how the Panamanian authorities are positioning it - heads of state and government from all over the world are invited to the ceremony. True, only Latin American presidents confirmed their presence: Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Luis Guillermo Solis (Costa Rica), Daniel Medina (Dominican Republic), Juan Orlando Hernandez (Honduras) and Horacio Cartes (Paraguay). Also, 62 delegations from different countries and representatives of international organizations will arrive in Panama.
Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela also sent an invitation to Vladimir Putin, but this trip was not on the Russian leader’s schedule.
US area of interest
The main beneficiary of the Panama Canal reboot will be the United States. It was they who at one time were most interested in its construction. And in 1902, having bought the assets of the canal from the bankrupt French, they “agreed” with the Panamanian authorities and in 10 years successfully dug a path from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, paying for it approximately $400 million and more than 5.5 thousand lives of workers.
The United States had undivided ownership of the channel until 1999. But after numerous protests against the American presence, it was finally transferred to the control of Panama - the state agency of the Panama Canal Administration. True, in reality, the United States continues to consider the canal, like the entire territory of Panama, a zone of its vital interests. In addition, as Mikhail Belyat, a researcher at the Russian State University for the Humanities and an expert on Latin America, said in an interview with RT, “there is a lot of money from American shareholders in this channel.”
Economic effect
Ahead of the grand opening of the revamped Panama Canal, The Wall Street Journal wrote that expanding the waterway could have huge implications for global trade in the long term. Of course, first of all, American companies will gain an advantage, because through the modernized canal the United States will be able to quickly deliver oil and gas from the Gulf of Mexico to anywhere in the world.
- Reuters
However, there is another opinion. The expansion of the canal was planned at the peak of maritime traffic, but now the situation has changed, so the economic effect of modernizing the canal is not obvious. But optimistic experts predict an increase in maritime cargo traffic by at least 240% by 2030.
Monopoly game
The economic situation is changing, but the US monopoly on the Panama Canal seems to be constant. And this does not suit many people. First of all, China and Venezuela, as one of the main oil exporters in the region. China has already leased two ports at the entrance and exit of the canal, but still cannot feel calm and be completely sure that the transit of its goods will not one day be blocked.
The second disadvantage of the Panama Canal: even in its updated version, it is not wide and deep enough for the latest tankers. And finally, its lack of alternative contradicts the principles of competition.
These factors led to the emergence of the idea of a backup channel.
Nicaraguan understudy
Everything new is well forgotten old. The idea of building a canal on the territory of Nicaragua appeared in the 16th century and belonged to the Spanish king Charles V. In those distant times, they planned to build a canal across Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River, cutting the 80-kilometer isthmus that separated the lake from the ocean. The Americans initially wanted to implement this same scenario, and the North American Company was even formed to build the Nicaraguan Canal. But in the end, the scales tipped in favor of Panama.
The idea of the Nicaraguan Canal was reborn in the 21st century. The private Hong Kong company HKND Group, led by Chinese billionaire Wang Jin, and the Nicaraguan government have agreed to build a backup canal. The construction of the century began in 2014.
- www.youtube.com
On all counts
According to the project, the Nicaraguan Canal should surpass its Panamanian competitor in all respects: length - 286 kilometers, depth - about 30 meters, width - from 226 to 530 meters, vessel displacement - up to 270,000 tons.
And what is important is that the emergence of the Nicaraguan Canal will significantly reduce prices for transit and port fees on the coast. “According to the existing project, two powerful ports will appear at the entrance and exit of the canal; they will compete with Panama,” Mikhail Belyat, a researcher at the Russian State University for the Humanities and an expert on Latin America, said in an interview with RT. - Accordingly, pricing for the use of the canal and port services along the entire coast will decrease. This does not suit the US."
Proetcontra
The construction of the canal is a matter of vital importance not only for all participants in the project. Nicaragua receives economic and political preferences: the country's GDP will double, and its geopolitical significance will radically change. China, having built the Nicaraguan Canal, comes seriously and for a long time to the American continent, and becomes one of the main players in the region, not to mention the economic benefits - it is no coincidence that Chinese investors are showing great interest in the project. Countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America are also interested in the emergence of an alternative route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. But for the United States, according to Mikhail Belyat, “this will be a geostrategic bomb. China is coming to the American continent. And so its presence there is obvious; in any Latin American country you will find a Chinese trace. But the canal is a huge thorn in the immediate vicinity of the US borders.”
Do we need this?
China and Nicaragua cannot fail to realize all the risks arising from their proximity to the disgruntled States. Therefore, they are trying by any means to attract Russia to participate in the project in order to ensure its safety. In 2015, Daniel Ortega took the first step - he signed an agreement with Russia, according to which Russian warships would be able to stay in the territorial waters of Nicaragua. And recently, the first batch of modernized T-72B1 tanks in the amount of 20 units was delivered to Nicaragua. In total, under the contract, the Nicaraguans will receive 50 armored vehicles by the beginning of 2017.
“China needs Russia to take part in this project under any guise,” Oleg Valetsky, a military expert at the Center for Strategic Conjuncture, said in an interview with RT. “The Chinese understand perfectly well that this will be a blow to US interests with all the ensuing consequences.” Moreover, there were already precedents in history. “The United States carried out several interventions in Nicaragua with the aim of building such a canal,” says Mikhail Belyat. “And in the twentieth century they carried out interventions so that the canal would not be built in Nicaragua, because it was becoming an alternative to the Panama one.”
Whether Russia needs to take part in the construction of the century is a debatable question. A number of experts believe that it is not worth it yet. The economic benefits are dubious, and the geopolitical ones are unpredictable.
Delayed action mine
The start of operation of the Nicaraguan Canal was scheduled for 2019, and full completion of construction - for 2029. However, at first, farmers, concerned about the loss of their lands, stood in the way of the project, and construction was postponed for six months. Then, as usual, environmentalists were outraged, and again there was a delay. Finally, all controversial issues were resolved and the implementation of the project was again postponed until the end of 2016. As an explanation, the HKND Group stated financial difficulties.
But the reasons for the permanent freeze of the Nicaraguan Canal most likely lie in the realm of politics. There are presidential elections in Nicaragua on November 6, and presidential elections in the United States on November 8. And the future fate of the channel largely depends on their results.
“Ortega is running for a third term,” says Mikhail Belyat. - His chances are slim. We will have to withstand the pressure of the US-backed opposition. If a liberal president comes to power, the terms of the Nicaraguan Canal agreement may be revised.”
- Reuters
In turn, Hillary Clinton, according to experts, will not stand on ceremony with Chinese ambitions and will act extremely toughly.
So we will find out very soon whether there will be a Nicaraguan Canal, but for now the maritime powers will have to be content with the updated Panama Canal.
Ilya Oganjanov
The name of which means “many, many fish”.
Just a few years after its founding, the city became the starting point for the exploration and conquest of Peru and the entrepôt point for sending gold and silver to Spain across the isthmus.
In 1671, Henry Morgan with a team of 1,400 men besieged and plundered the city, which was then destroyed by fire. The ruins of the old city are still preserved and are called Panama la Vieja. The city was rebuilt in 1673 on a new site seven kilometers southwest of the original city. This place is now known as Casco Viejo.
For many years the city prospered due to its location, but the construction of the canal made it truly strategic.
During World War II, US military bases were built here.
From the late 1970s and into the 1980s, Panama City became an international banking center, including a center for illegal money laundering. In 1989, US President George H. W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama to overthrow its leader, General Manuel Antonio Noriega. As a result of this action, an entire block of Panama, consisting of partly wooden buildings from the 1900s, was destroyed by fires.
Currently, Panama is a developed and modern city, with most of the population engaged in banking and insurance. The city is also an attractive tourist center. 
Photo: Chris Taylor 
One Hundred Years of Shipping
The initiative to build the Panama Canal belonged to France, so in 1879 it bought the concession for 10 million francs and began construction. But construction proceeded sluggishly, several factors contributed to this: an incorrect project (Ferdinand Lesseps insisted that the canal be dug at sea level, later this plan had to be abandoned in favor of a gateway), poor management of the organization of work, ineffective financing (only a third allocated funds were used for construction), as well as an epidemic of malaria and yellow fever, which, according to some sources, killed up to 20 thousand people. Thus, by 1888 only a third of the work had been completed, and the costs ($300 million) were twice as high as planned, construction was stopped, and this was followed by the famous scandal in France in 1892-1893.
After some time, the United States began to actively claim a monopoly over the canal. In 1901, the United States entered into the Hay-Pouncefoot Treaty with Great Britain, according to which the States received the exclusive right to construct this canal without the participation of Great Britain, but a problem arose with the concession from Colombia, since the concession agreement with the French company expired only in 1904, and according to the terms it was certain that if the canal did not begin to function by that time, then all the structures erected by the company would go free of charge to Columbia. Interested parties in France and the United States now saw the only way out for the state of Panama to separate from Colombia and, as an independent state, formalize the legal transfer of the concession to the United States. The Frenchman Bunau-Varilla led the separatist movement and, with the assistance of the US navy, carried out the secession of Panama on November 4, 1903; On November 18, on behalf of the “Independent Republic of Panama,” he signed with the United States. 
Solving the problem with malaria and yellow fever (this required: burning 30 square kilometers of bushes and small trees, cutting and burning grass in the same area, draining a million square yards (80 hectares) of swamps, digging 250 thousand feet (76 km) of drainage ditches and restore 2 million feet (600 km) of old ditches, spray 150 thousand gallons (570 thousand liters) of oils that kill mosquito larvae in breeding areas, and in 1904 the construction of the canal began. This time the right project was chosen: locks and lakes. construction took 10 years, $400 million and 70 thousand workers, of whom, according to American data, about 5,600 people died.
On the morning of October 13, 1913, US President Thomas Woodrow Wilson, in the presence of numerous high-ranking guests gathered at the White House, went to a special table and pressed a gilded button with a majestic gesture. And at the same instant, a powerful explosion shook the humid tropical air four thousand kilometers from Washington, on the Isthmus of Panama. Twenty thousand kilograms of dynamite destroyed the last barrier separating the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans near the city of Gamboa. A four thousand kilometer long cable, specially laid from the jumper at Gamboa to the White House, obediently carried out the will of the president.
The first ship (an ocean-going steamer) passed along the canal on August 15, 1914, but a large landslide in October prevented the opening of traffic in the same 1914.
The official opening of the canal took place only on June 12, 1920. 
Due to the American presence, until the late 1960s, Panamanians had limited or no access to many areas of the Panama Canal until December 31, 1999, when it was handed over to the Panamanian government. 
Photo: Nerijus Lostinhdr 
The fee rate was $2.96 per ton up to 10 thousand tons, $2.90 for each of the subsequent 10 thousand tons and $2.85 for each subsequent ton.
The amount of dues for small vessels is calculated based on their length:
Up to 15.24 m (50 ft): $500.
From 15.24 m (50 ft) to 24,384 m (80 ft): $750.
From 24.384 m (80 ft) to 30.48 m (100 ft): $2000.
Over 30.48 m (100 ft): $2500.
However, soon the Panama Canal will have a competitor - the Nicaraguan Canal (Hong Kong company HKND Group). It is expected that the depth of the canal will be 26-30 meters, width - 230-530 meters, and length - 278 kilometers (including 105 in the waters of Lake Nicaragua), versus 81.6 km (including 65.2 km by land length), total width - 150 meters (the width of the lock chambers is 33 meters) and depth - 12 meters Panama, construction will begin in December 2014. Commencement of operation in 2019. Completion of construction in 2029.
— section of Corte Culebra with the Bridge of the Americas above it
Along the canal route between the cities of Panama and Colon there are roads and railways. Lake Gatun, with a whole system of islands and deepened waterways, is served by a canal. Its waters are used to lift, guide and lower ships, to fill the tanks of the entire system of locks, from which water flows to their chambers. Spare tanks in the form of giant round containers are also filled with water and at the right time it flows through a complex system of transitions to the locks. All additional tanks are located at some distance from the lock system. If you take a bus to the north of the country, you can contemplate all this engineering design from the window. Auxiliary water supply is provided by another reservoir - Lake Alajuela. Such volumes, such power, and the brilliant idea itself amazes everyone who visits the Panama Canal for the first time.
In the first half of the day, ships are transported from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, and in the afternoon, ships are pulled from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is interesting that every day in the evening the water on the Panama City embankment rose when the locks were opened and ships were lowered into the Pacific Ocean, and in the morning the bottom was almost exposed. This is how the canal creates artificial tides in Panama Bay. Just imagine the water potential of this structure!
Having descended from the Miraflores observation deck to the first floor, I watched with interest a film about the construction of the canal and its heroes, and everyone there was a hero. The film made a strong impression on me. What I admired from above today became a tremendous challenge, a difficult period and a deadly project for many thousands of people who came into contact with the construction of the canal at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The first attempt to build a shipping route was made by the French at the end of the 19th century (1879), while the US authorities advocated a Nicaraguan version of the canal. The idea turned into almost an economic disaster for France. The funds allocated for construction were not enough; only a third of the work was spent twice as much as expected. Huge sums were spent on Panamanian bureaucrats and to pay for all kinds of permits and concessions; the project itself turned out to be incorrect and was underestimated in its cost. But the most terrible thing for workers were tropical diseases - malaria and yellow fever. People were mowed down by death. Over nine years, 20,000 workers died. The construction site became notorious; newspapers of the time wrote that some groups of workers brought their own coffins with them from France. For all these reasons, salary payments stopped and work was stopped. France was gripped by scandal and all sorts of trials against the organizers of the project for two years. Lesseps was one of the outstanding engineers of his time (he owned the Suez Canal project), as a result of the bankruptcy of the Panama project, as well as the famous creator of the Eiffel Tower, Alexander Eiffel, were accused of large-scale fraud, incompetent campaign management and misappropriation of funds and were sentenced to various prison terms conclusions. Ferdinand Lesseps did not survive the stress and died.
Sixteen years of silence, if you can call it that, the period of abandonment of a grandiose construction project. But all this time, the United States, by hook or by crook, sought to continue construction, now with American forces. Agreements were signed again, all kinds of permits were purchased, lands and islands were purchased, which in the future could serve the canal in terms of protection, security, maintenance and management. The work already done and the necessary equipment were purchased from the French. The 1903 treaty gave the United States perpetual possession of "a zone of land and land under water for the construction of ... a canal." As a result, the Americans became the owners of a huge package of permits, and the US War Department began construction of the canal in 1904. Panama effectively became a US protectorate.
Workers were needed to resume the grandiose construction project. The cry was thrown out. People came from all over the world. By that time, the sources of the deadly diseases yellow fever and malaria had become known. The Americans have made every effort for another project to destroy harmful insects. Forests were cut down, swamps were drained and grass was burned in the area of the proposed work. The area was watered with special oil against mosquito larvae, and, imagine, they succeeded. Diseases are no longer a hindering factor.
It took ten years of grueling work to complete the project. People dug canals, drilled rocks, blew up hills and rebuilt the railway along which they transported soil.
John Frank Stevens became the canal's chief engineer. This time the right project was chosen. Construction took 10 years, $400 million and 70 thousand workers, of which, according to American data, only about 5,600 people died, which was almost four times less than the French losses. Their mistakes served as a good lesson for the Americans.
The canal officially opened on June 12, 1920, although the first ship passed through in August 1914. The Panama Canal was controlled by the United States until December 31, 1999, after which it was transferred to the Panamanian government.
This is a brief history of the grandiose object that connected two oceans. The Panama Canal was the greatest engineering feat in human history.
On Miraflores, I also visited a museum where I controlled a container ship from the virtual captain’s cabin and guided it through the locks.
It's not for nothing that the Panama Canal is called the eighth wonder of the world.. This masterpiece of engineering is one of the most intense, extensive and complex artificial waterways in the world. And hardly any other engineering structure on Earth has such a rich and dramatic history.
The Panama Canal is a shipping canal connecting the Pacific Gulf of Panama with the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, located on the Isthmus of Panama in the state of Panama.
Length - 81.6 km, including 65.2 km on land and 16.4 km along the bottom of the Panama and Limon bays (for the passage of ships to deep water).
The construction of the Panama Canal was one of the largest and most complex construction projects undertaken by mankind. The Panama Canal had an invaluable influence on the development of shipping and the economy as a whole in the Western Hemisphere and throughout the Earth, which determined its extremely high geopolitical significance.
Thanks to the Panama Canal, the sea route from New York to San Francisco was reduced from 22.5 thousand km to 9.5 thousand km.
Panama was discovered in 1501 by the Spanish conquistador Rodrigo de Bastidas. Vasco Nunez de Balboa sailed with Bastidas - he was the first to cross the Isthmus of Panama, spending weeks on the way to the Pacific Ocean. In 1519 Balboa was falsely accused of treason and executed, but thanks to him the Isthmus of Panama ended up on geographical maps. Since then the idea of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by water, so as not to make a long-term journey around South America full of dangers, did not leave the minds of sailors and traders.
In 1502, Christopher Columbus founded the village of Santa Maria de Belen at the mouth of the Belen River, which was soon destroyed by the Indians. In 1509, the Spaniards founded a colony on the coast of the Gulf of Darien. Ten years later, the city of Panama was founded - the current capital of the state of the same name. The Spaniards transported the mined gold, silver, and jewelry along a stone road called Camino real - the Royal Road. From the city of Panama on the Pacific coast, treasures were transported to Puerto Bello (Portobelo) on the Atlantic.
In 1529, a Spanish officer, outstanding mathematician and geographer named Alvaro de Saavedra Seron proposed four options for digging a canal. He died without having time to acquaint anyone in power with his projects, but five years later, King Charles V of Spain personally ordered a survey of the shores of Panama in search of a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama. In 1550, the Portuguese sailor Antonio Galvão published a book outlining four projects, largely identical to those of Saavedra. At the beginning of the 19th century, the German naturalist and traveler Alexander Humboldt proposed nine plans for digging a canal, including through the northern part of the American continent.
By the end of the 18th century, the gold and silver mines known at that time had been worked out, and the importance of the route across the isthmus began to gradually decline. In addition, there was a constant threat of pirate attacks. But, losing importance for Spain, the route through the Isthmus of Panama became increasingly important for a young power, growing and gaining strength - the United States. In 1846, the United States entered into a treaty of friendship, trade and navigation with New Granada, which then included Panama. The American side pledged to guarantee the inviolability of the Isthmus of Panama. At the same time, the United States received a concession to build a railway through it. It turned out to be a well-timed move. In 1849, gold was discovered in California, and thousands of people flocked to San Francisco. An American company began construction of a railway that cost a huge amount and about 60 thousand human lives. The road, less than 80 kilometers long, was completed only in 1855. To recoup costs, the company inflated transportation tariffs exorbitantly, taking advantage of its monopoly. However, this monopoly did not last long: other companies established regular communication around Cape Horn, which was much cheaper, although it took longer. And the direct path across the isthmus fell into desolation for the second time. At that time, a “treaty of mutual distrust” was in force between the United States and Great Britain - the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, according to which both parties renounced exclusive rights to build the canal. France took advantage of this contradiction.
The General Interoceanic Canal Company was created, headed by diplomat and entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal. After Suez, Lesseps became a national hero; he was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences and received the title of engineer, although he had no technical education.
On January 1, 1880, a groundbreaking ceremony took place at the mouth of the Rio Grande River. The maximum number of workers involved in construction was 19,000 people. The work was carried out on a grand scale, but by 1885 only one tenth of what was planned was completed. The main reason for this was technical difficulties unforeseen by the project and the tropical climate. The proximity of malarial swamps caused outbreaks of the disease among workers living in unsanitary conditions. Hundreds of people died from yellow fever. The lack of timely medical care and necessary medications led to gigantic casualties among construction workers.
The Isthmus of Panama is one of the most complex geological areas on the earth's surface - mountainous, covered with impenetrable jungle and deep swamps. The local mountains, formed as a result of volcanic activity, are a mixture of hard rocks and soft rocks, and the mixture is disordered and located at different angles. The canal builders passed 6 large geological faults and 5 centers of volcanic activity. Add to this the scorching sun, very high humidity, heavy tropical rains typical of these places, as well as regular floods of the Chagres River, sometimes reaching catastrophic proportions, and, of course, yellow fever. It’s good that the engineers of the past did not have detailed information about the geology of the isthmus and all the other natural “surprises”, otherwise the Panama Canal would hardly have ever been built.
Lesseps decided to found a joint-stock company - last time this idea turned out to be successful. Three years after the completion of the Suez Canal, it began to generate net profits, and before nationalization in 1955, the company paid out 12.4 billion francs to shareholders. But in this case, Lesseps's enterprise ended in complete failure and became a tragedy for many French people.
In 1876, Lesseps acquired the engineer Vase's project and concession. This cost 10 million francs. In 1880, a report was compiled according to which the costs were estimated at 843 million francs. As it turned out later, this amount was very underestimated. On February 1, 1881, construction of the Panama Canal began. It was supposed to run at sea level, without locks or dams. A tunnel had to be built through the pass at the junction of the Veragua and San Blas mountain ranges (87 meters above sea level).
Financial difficulties began almost immediately. Few people wanted to invest money in building a canal somewhere on the other side of the world. We had to conduct a wide advertising campaign, and for this we had to pay a significant amount to banks and the press. The railway, intersecting with the route of the future canal, had to be purchased from the Americans for an amount three times its value. For the years 1879-1889, expenses amounted to 1274 million francs. Meanwhile, construction barely progressed.
At the end of 1887, under pressure from the young engineer Philippe Bunau-Varilly, Lesseps was forced to agree to move to the lock canal. According to the engineer's plan, the highest level of the canal should have been 52 meters, and this circumstance entailed the need to revise the design. For this, engineer Alexander Gustave Eiffel, who was just finishing the construction of his legendary tower, was called from Paris to get involved in the work and prepare a canal project using locks. But all efforts to revive the rapidly deteriorating work were in vain; due to lack of money, they were suspended at around 72 meters.
The financial difficulties of the Panama Company increased from year to year. In 1885, Lesseps and his colleagues decided to improve the company's affairs by issuing a long-term winning loan. To issue such a loan, the consent of the government and parliament - the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate - was required, because private companies did not have the legal right to conduct lotteries. The company began processing journalists, ministers and deputies in order to carry out changes in the law. Baron de Reynach distributed cash bribes worth more than four million francs across all echelons of power!
The struggle over state sanction to issue a winning loan lasted about three years. The company could no longer hide either the unsatisfactory progress of work on the isthmus or its financial problems. Lesseps's halo dimmed, and his physical strength was running out.
The Panama company, in order to stay afloat, issued two more ordinary loans that did not require government permission. To attract subscribers, she made the bonds especially attractive by raising the nominal (called coupon) interest rate to 10% per annum. The banks that placed the bonds had to pay more and more.
In April 1888, the Chamber of Deputies approved a loan, supported by the Senate and the President, the limit of which was increased to 720 million francs. President Theodore Roosevelt actively supported the Panama project, for which he was later accused of the fact that public money did not reach French investors, but ended up in Morgan's pockets.
Theodore Roosevelt (center)
The subscription for bonds, which began in June 1888, almost immediately ended in complete failure. It collected only 254 million, of which 31 million were the costs of the issue, which went to the banks. Finally, the law required that the company set aside a special reserve fund from the collected money as a guarantee for the payment of winnings and the redemption of bonds.
The leaders of the Panama Company, led by father and son Lesseps, continued to make desperate efforts to avoid bankruptcy, assuring at the shareholders' meeting that construction would be completed on time and money would flow into the company's coffers.
They undertook a trip around the country with speeches guaranteeing their honesty. But after deputies refused to support the bill on preferential treatment for debt repayments, the end came. On February 4, 1889, the Civil Court of the Department of Seine officially declared the bankruptcy and liquidation of the Panama Company and appointed a liquidator.
At the time of bankruptcy, after eight years of canal construction, the work was only two-fifths completed. The Panamanian company collected 1.3 billion francs through the issue of shares and bonds. Of these, 104 million francs were paid to banks as commissions, 250 million as interest on bonds and for their redemption. Contracting companies were paid 450 million francs, but a significant part of the work was not completed according to the estimate.
During the liquidation of the company, it turned out that there were no liquid assets left on its balance sheet, with the exception of a giant unexcavated ditch and a pile of rusting equipment in the Central American countryside. The number of investors who lost all their savings after the bankruptcy of the Panama Company reached, according to various estimates, 700–800 thousand people.
Three years after the financial collapse, in 1892, a corruption scandal erupted when the French nationalist press began publishing revelations of massive bribery of politicians, government officials and the press by the administration of the Panama Company, which tried to hide the company's deplorable situation from the public and obtain permission to carry out a "salvation" » winning loan.
Numerous financial abuses were revealed, primarily the widespread corruption of all branches of government. Charges of accepting bribes were brought against 510 members of parliament who took bribes not by stealth in an envelope, but by bank check!
The scandal led to the fall of three French governments. Many ministers were involved in it, including the future Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, and virtually none of them were brought to justice.
In the dock were the elder and younger de Lesseps, Gustave Eiffel, several company managers and the former minister of public works. In 1893, they were sentenced to various prison terms (Eiffel - to two years and a 20 thousand francs fine), but four months later these sentences were annulled by the court of cassation, and the defendants in the case were released.
Ferdinand de Lesseps, due to his advanced age and services to the country, was spared prison. Lesseps's health, significantly undermined during the years spent in Panama, suffered very significant damage in the current situation. He went mad and died in December 1894 at the age of 89. Charles lived until 1923, having time to see the Panama Canal in action and learn that his and his father’s good name had been restored...
Ferdinand de Lesseps experienced both the intoxication of success - this is Suez, and the bitterness of disappointment - this is Panama. When he managed to connect the two seas, sovereigns and nations gave him honors, but after he was defeated, unable to cope with the rocks of the Cordillera, he turned into an ordinary swindler...
As soon as the passions subsided, it turned out that the deceived investors could save at least part of their money only on the condition that construction continued. In the year of Lesseps's death, in 1894, a new Panama Canal Company was created in France, which very slowly, but continued construction and survey work.
The Americans who bought the property of the new Company, without forgetting the sad experience of their predecessors, significantly adjusted the canal project, choosing the option with locks, relied not on private capital, but on government funding, and fine-tuned the construction management procedure. Modern discoveries in the field of medicine also came to their aid: by that time it had been established that mosquitoes and mosquitoes were the destroyers of the French - carriers of yellow fever and malaria, so unprecedented efforts were made in the territory to destroy the insidious insects. Serious sanitary and hygienic measures were taken throughout the construction of the canal. However, even in this case, there were human casualties - during the second stage of construction of the Panama Canal, 5,600 people died, and 70 thousand workers took part in it. Construction was labor-intensive and took ten years. According to official information, the construction of the century cost the Americans $380 million.
Whether Ferdinand de Lesseps was really guilty of fraud, or whether this elderly man simply turned out to be a victim of self-deception and became a pawn in someone else’s dishonest game, now probably cannot be established. The methods used in the construction of the canal can easily be called fraudulent. The excessively underestimated cost of the project and the timing of its implementation initially misled investors. This was also facilitated by an active advertising campaign that praised optimistic forecasts, but which constantly hid the difficulties.
Despite this, public opinion and the press did not approve of the severity of the sentence...
By 1888, almost twice as much money was spent on the construction of the canal as expected, and only a third of the work was completed. The company went bankrupt, which led to the ruin of thousands of small shareholders.
Further investigation revealed facts of massive corruption, bribery of officials and newspaper editors by the company. This adventure was called the Panama one, and the word “Panama” became synonymous with a scam, fraud.
In 1894 in France it was organized new Panama Canal Company, but work was not resumed. The New Company conducted behind-the-scenes negotiations with the United States government, which hoped to use the channel to further penetrate the economies of Central and South America. Negotiations were successful, and the deal was concluded on February 13, 1903. The Company ceded to the United States government for the sum of $40 million its rights to build the canal and all equipment and property available on the site.
The conditions under which the company carried out work on Colombian territory did not satisfy the United States, and they developed a new treaty, according to which the entire 10-mile wide strip of land through which the canal passed was withdrawn from the sovereignty of the Republic of Colombia. The cities of Colon and Panama were declared free ports. The protection of the canal was entrusted to the government of the Republic of Colombia. The government of the United States was obliged to pay a lump sum to the government of the Republic of Colombia a measly sum of 10 million dollars and then annually pay a small monetary compensation of 250 thousand dollars.
This agreement was already signed by both governments on March 18, 1903, a month after the acquisition of rights to the canal, and submitted to their senates for ratification.
The Colombian Senate, under pressure from the masses, outraged by the enslaving conditions, rejected the agreement, demanding to ensure its sovereignty over the canal zone and wanting to receive greater compensation for the concession it represented. The refusal of the Colombian Senate to ratify the treaty caused a storm of indignation among the ruling circles of the United States. The President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, proposed not to stand on ceremony with the random owners of the territory needed by the United States and to deal with them at his own discretion.
Using bribery and pressure, American Wall Street entrepreneurs, through their agents, staged the “Panamanian Revolution” on November 4, 1903.
The newly formed Republic of Panama, which includes 84 thousand square kilometers, including the area where the future canal will pass, declared itself independent from Colombia, and it was headed by pro-American hardened businessmen, bought with American dollars.
United States President Theodore Roosevelt immediately ordered the commanders of American warships stationed in Colon and the Pacific port of Mexico - Acapulco, to prevent Colombian troops from landing on the shores of Panama, heading there to suppress the “revolution”. The American Panama Railroad Directorate also refused to transport Colombian soldiers for this purpose.
Just a week after the “revolution,” the United States rushed to formally recognize independence and independence of the Republic of Panama, and on November 18, 1903, they concluded a new agreement with the government of this republic on the construction of a canal on even more favorable terms for the United States than the agreement previously rejected by the Colombian Senate. On February 26, 1904, the area adjacent to the canal, 1,422 square kilometers with a population of 14.47 thousand people, was annexed to the United States and called the “Panama Canal Zone.”
The Republic of Colombia did not risk a war with the United States and was forced to admit defeat. Construction of the canal was resumed and continued by the United States.
Culebra notch
The Culebra Cut, in terms of the totality of the labor, people and money used, was a kind of “special miracle” of the Panama Canal. The essence of this work was to overcome the multi-kilometer section between Gamboa on the Chagres River through the Continental Divide mountain range to the south to Pedro Miguel. The lowest point on the pass between Gold Hill in the east and Contractors Hill in the west was about one hundred meters above sea level.
Technically, it all boiled down to drilling holes into which explosives were placed, the detonation of which would lift a mass of stones and petrified clay into the air. Steam shovels then removed the resulting crushed soil, placing it on railcars for transportation to dump sites. In general, working equipment, in addition to the railway as such, included steam shovels, unloaders, spreaders and track movers. Of all these machines, only steam excavators were known to the French, and they were much less powerful. The Lidgerwood unloader, manufactured by the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Company of New York City, was an indispensable tool for the job. Wooden single-sided platforms with an average load capacity of 14.5 cubic meters transported most of the excavated soil; they were made up of long trains (there were no gaps between the platforms; they were closed with special gutters), which were hooked up to powerful locomotives built in America.
The unloading system was interesting. The unloader's three-ton plow was mounted on the last platform, and a long cable ran from it to a winch on the very front platform. Having received power from the locomotive, the winch began to quickly pull the plow towards itself, thereby unloading a train of 20 platforms in one ten-minute movement. One of these machines once set an 8-hour record, unloading 18 trains during this time, that is, over five and a half kilometers of platforms and 5,780 cubic meters of soil. Engineers calculated that twenty of these unloaders, which required 120 workers to operate, replaced the manual labor of 5,666 people.
The spoiler was another American invention. It was a trolley running on compressed air; on both sides it had a kind of wings that could be lowered or raised. When lowered, they covered several meters along the sides of the rail track. Moving forward, the spreader pushed and leveled the material left by the unloader. Like him, the spoiler did the work of five to six thousand ordinary workers at a time.
Another machine, the track mover, was invented by the American William G. Bierd, general manager of the Panama Railways from September 1905 to October 1907. A massive crane-like machine lifted an entire section of road - rails and sleepers - and moved it in a different direction, a maximum of more than two meters at a time. Its benefit was especially great because the tracks had to be constantly moved in accordance with the progress of work. Once, requiring a dozen people to operate it, in one day such a machine moved over a kilometer of track, which otherwise would have required the labor of more than six hundred workers.
A significant number of large, four-sided tipping trucks (i.e., dump trucks) from Western and Oliver were also used. Since unloading them turned out to be very difficult, due to the fact that the heavy clay stuck to the steel walls, they began to be used almost exclusively for transporting stones from the Notch to the Gatun Dam. Their four-sided design made it impossible to use the unloader. Many millions of cubic meters of excavated soil had to be diverted away from the extraction site. Part of this soil was used to connect four small islands in the Bay of Panama (Naos, Perico, Culebra and Flamenco) to build a breakwater. Along the top of this breakwater there is a paved road, which essentially runs along the Pacific Ocean for several kilometers. The area between the mainland and the island of Naos was especially difficult in terms of embankment work, since the bottom there was soft, and whole tons of stones disappeared into it without a trace. The railway and the piles with which these works were carried out were once washed away by the sea, which required their re-construction. As a result, in order to reach the island of Naos with these works, the builders needed to pour ten times more of the planned volumes.
The resulting soil was also used to fill two square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean to create space for the construction of the city of Balboa and the military fort of Amador. Millions of cubic meters also went into building large embankments in the jungle. The largest of them, Tabernilla, contained over ten million cubic meters. Other significant embankments were the Gatun Dam and the Miraflores Dam.
The Gatun Dam, on the Atlantic side, was during its construction the largest dam on Earth, and the resulting Gatun Lake was the largest artificial reservoir on the planet. Nowadays, Gatun Lake is not even among the thirty similar lakes. Two dams of similar importance were built on the Pacific side - the Miraflores Spillway and, already in the thirties, the Madden Dam further up the Chagres River. Upon completion of the Gatun Dam, the valley of the Chagres River between Gamboa and Gatun turned into Lake Gatun. The completion of the Culebra Notch expanded this lake across the Continental Divide to the Pedro Miguel Locks.
Landslides along the banks of the Culebra excavation were a source of constant problems for engineers. The first such landslide under the Americans occurred near Cucarachi on October 4, 1907, when hundreds of cubic meters fell into the Notch after several days of heavy rain. For ten days, the landslide moved at a speed of more than four meters per day. To this day, Cucaracha remains a landslide-prone area.
A “normal” landslide, like the one occurring in the Cucarachi area, occurs due to the fact that porous material lying on a solid rock base is liquefied by water and at some stage loses its adhesion to the base and collapses in entire layers, often many meters thick .
There is also another type of landslide called “structural” or “deformation”. In this case, it depends on the geological structure of the rock masses. In the case of the Culebra Cut, the removal of material caused the high banks to lose stability and collapse under their own weight, often in the deepest areas, thereby reducing the depth of the channel. The greatest threat of such landslides occurs during dry seasons, thereby not depending on rainfall.
The annual labor record for the construction of the Culebra excavation was achieved in 1908, then, in addition to tens of millions of additional cubic meters of soil, it was also necessary to move the Panama Railway to a higher level, due to the impending appearance of Lake Gatun. This required the construction of about 64 kilometers and was completed on May 25, 1912, costing about nine million dollars.
By 1913, the construction of three giant locks was completed, which became a real wonder of the world. The walls of each airlock chamber were as high as a 6-story building. Each series of locks: Gatun on the Atlantic coast and Pedro Miguel and Miraflores on the Pacific coast, required more than 1.5 million cubic meters. meters of concrete, which were cast into steel structures from a huge 6-ton bucket.
On August 15, 1914, the ship Cristobal was the first to travel along the Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. On board was the “good genius” of construction, Philippe Bunod-Varilla. It took the ship 9 hours to complete the passage. Thanks to the artificial artery, the ship sailing from Ecuador to Europe “saved” about 8 thousand kilometers.
The first ship passed through the canal on August 15, 1914. The official opening of the canal took place only on June 12, 1920.
From the very moment the canal was built, the United States was its actual and legal owners. It is interesting that the canal and the area around it have always been used by the United States not so much for the purpose of making a profit from cargo transportation, since the main principle was not the profitability of the canal, but to cover the costs of its maintenance and maintenance in normal condition, but for the purpose of gaining the ability to control the region. The canal zone was home to numerous military bases used to train soldiers. In the country itself, at different times, there were from 10 to 65 thousand American military personnel, who were stationed there not so much to service the canal, but to exercise control over Panama and other countries in the region. Moreover, there was a special “School of the Americas”, which taught soldiers strategy and tactics in the fight against rebels on the continent. The area around the Panama Canal has always been important to the United States.
The issue of channel ownership has been raised many times. Many, primarily US representatives, were against transferring the canal to Panama, because they believed that such actions could only lead to the decline of the cargo transportation system, since the Panamanians simply would not be able to manage the canal.
French companies began construction of the canal, but they were unable to complete the project due to bankruptcy. The construction that had begun was bought by the United States, which concluded an agreement in 1903 to transfer the canal for perpetual use. In addition to receiving the canal and the surrounding land under full control, under this treaty the United States was given the right to station its troops at any time in any area of Panama and, in general, was allowed to feel at home. The contract price was $10 million plus an annual rent of $250 thousand.
An interesting fact in the history of Panama. As you know, Panama was a colony of Spain for a long time, and since 1821 it became part of the federal Colombia. The struggle for independence here continued throughout Panama's history, with occasional uprisings and movements for freedom from Colombia. But, oddly enough, it was the United States that helped Panama gain independence. Of course, the intentions of the United States were far from noble; their main goal was, after all, the Panama Canal, and here’s why. To sign an agreement on the transfer of rights to the channel, the consent of at least two parties was required.
At the same time, separatist sentiments intensified in Panama by the beginning of the 20th century, which was right in the hands of the United States. But a certain threat was posed by the troops of Colombia, whose authorities did not want to just give up Panama. That is why, in order to ensure security, and indeed the very fact of concluding the agreement, the United States paid Colombia 25 million dollars for the independence of Panama.
Colombia agreed to "let go" of Panama in 1903, although Panama's freedom can only be said to be provisional as it immediately came under de facto US control.
The further history of the canal, Panama and everything that hovered around it I will tell you in the next post about the modern Panama Canal.
In the meantime, let's look at some more footage of the canal construction:
Panorama, clickable
Panorama, clickable
Location: Panama
Opening: June 12, 1920
Length: 81.6 m
Bandwidth: 48 ships per day
Coordinates: 9°06"09.5"N 79°41"14.1"W
Short description
Today, the Panama Canal, which connects the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is still considered one of the greatest and, undoubtedly, the most complex construction projects in the entire history of mankind.
Bridge of the Americas
Its length is relatively short: only 81 kilometers and 600 meters. 65 kilometers also pass on land, and 16.5 kilometers along the bottom of the Limon and Panama bays. All these figures are of interest to sociologists, geologists, ichthyologists and, to some extent, historians. However, the Panama Canal is a real revolution in the economy and shipping throughout our vast planet. One can only imagine how shortened the route is for ships traveling from the largest metropolis in the world, New York, to San Francisco. Before the vital canal was put into operation, ships had to cover a distance of almost 23,000 kilometers between the two cities. Thanks to the canal built by mankind, this section of the journey was reduced to only 9,500 kilometers.
The canal is located in Panama, which translated from the Indian language into Russian sounds like “a place where there are a lot of fish.” Panama is an amazingly beautiful state, and the Panama Canal is one of its main attractions, a kind of monument to the perseverance and heroism of the people who took part in its construction. In 2012, on the pages of The New York Times, the most popular newspaper not only in the United States, but throughout the world, a list of places that are recommended for people who are interested in travel and tourism must be visited. It is interesting that this small list, by the way, was headed by Panama.
Construction of the Panama Canal
As mentioned above, a canal that connects the two great oceans in a place convenient for navigation was necessary. This was well understood not only by our contemporaries, but also by people who lived back in the 16th century. It was then that Alessandro Malaspina proposed a unique project for the construction of the Panama Canal. This idea aroused the rage of King Philip II of Spain, who was a devout Catholic. “What God created on Earth, what he considered necessary to connect, we simply do not have the right to tear apart!” said the king and in a special document approved a ban not only on construction, but even on the development of any such projects.
Documents that have survived to this day allow historians to draw a certain conclusion: The first construction of the Panama Canal started in 1879 and... turned into a terrible disaster. A disaster for humanity and a disaster for the economy. The nightmare, which was called the “construction of the Panama Canal” at the end of the 19th century, was led by Ferdinand Lesseps, who had already become famous for the construction of the Suez Canal.
The big name of the construction manager did not cause even the slightest doubt among society and influential businessmen of that time about the success of the enterprise. A company was officially registered in Paris, called the “General Company of the Interoceanic Canal”. Its shares were in consistently high demand and were, even by modern standards, extremely expensive, which did not prevent more than 800,000 people from purchasing them. This was not surprising; everyone firmly believed in the success of the grandiose construction. By the way, in one of the Forbes magazines, a wealthy investor gave a short interview in which he admitted that if he had lived at that time, having studied all the possible risks, he would, without a single doubt, have invested most of the funds in the construction of the Panama Canal.
Nine long years have passed since the start of construction, more than $300,000,000 were spent, which for that period of time was considered a colossal amount, and the work was not even a third completed. The budget was exceeded, the project of Ferdinand Lesseps was fundamentally wrong. His inaccurate calculations not only led to the bankruptcy of the company, but also claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people. “People are dying one after another, they are affected by yellow fever and malaria, doctors cannot cope with the epidemic, workers are fleeing the construction site as if from a place cursed by God,” one of the chief engineers wrote in his reports. Ferdinand Lesseps was accused of the largest scam and arrested. Naturally, this brilliant architect, who made a lot of mistakes, did not want to get rich in this way, therefore, unable to withstand such a blow of fate, he lost his mind.
This story of the first construction of the Panama Canal will forever remain a dark spot in history. Now the largest financial frauds, "pyramid schemes", are often called "Panama", which is reminiscent of the biggest scam of the late 19th century, which was not meant to be.
Still, the Panama Canal, as mentioned above, was necessary. And the authorities of the United States of America understood this very well. They analyzed all the errors in the calculations of the author of the previous project and thought about how to protect workers from epidemics. By the way, it was thanks to the new construction of the Panama Canal that two researchers made a discovery: a person becomes ill with yellow fever when bitten by a mosquito that carries the causative agent of this terrible disease. Mosquitoes had to be destroyed at any cost: not far from the construction, entire forests were burned, even small bushes were uprooted, grass was mowed, and swamps in which mosquitoes bred were drained. The result was achieved: 1,500 people reduced the mosquito population to almost zero and workers were no longer threatened by malaria and yellow fever.
The new project was developed in the shortest possible time by John Frank Stevens, who proposed using artificial lakes and special locks for the canal that would regulate the water level. Already in 1904, new construction of the Panama Canal began, which lasted almost 10 years. It cost the United States $400 million. True, this construction also cost the lives of almost 6,000 workers. However, the grandiose project was brought to life, and on October 13, 1913, in the White House, the president pressed a special button, after which a colossal explosion occurred: 4,000 kilometers from the residence of Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 20 tons of dynamite destroyed the last barrier, located near the city of Gamboa. The waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans were finally connected by the Panama Canal.
Speaking about the history of the construction of the Panama Canal, it is impossible not to mention that the United States, which invested huge amounts of money in the implementation of the grandiose project, decided to play it safe. Thanks to the efforts of the United States, Panama was separated from Colombia and gained independence. For such help, the authorities of the country that brings democracy to the world asked for very little: eternal ownership of the land, water space and the bottom of the Panama Canal. Which is exactly what they got.
History of the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a waterway through which luxury yachts and cargo ships pass daily. By the way, its dimensions allow the ship to pass into the Atlantic Ocean from the Pacific or in the opposite direction, with a width of up to 32.3 meters. The maximum length of the vessel must not exceed 294 meters. Three bridges rise above the canal, and you can watch the movement of ships along it from the window of a car or train: a railway and a highway run along the entire canal.
It would seem that the Panama Canal opens up almost limitless possibilities, but the number of ships planning to sail through it is incredibly large. It often happens that you have to wait more than a week for your turn. The record number of ships that passed through the Panama Canal in one day is “only” 65. A ship, even a small yacht, does not have the right to move through the canal on its own; it is pulled by trains specially designed for this purpose, nicknamed “mules” among sailors.
Naturally, you have to pay for such luxury as crossing from one ocean to another in just 9 (!) hours. And, I must say, pay a lot. For each vessel, depending on its size and tonnage, a special “tax” is established. In addition, there are people who value time more than banknotes: there are special auctions for them. The one who pays the highest amount will be able to skip the line and go through the canal. For example, in 2006, a huge queue of 90 ships lined up in front of the entrance to the Panama Canal. An auction was held and the tanker named Erikoussa won. Apparently, he was in a hurry to transport his cargo, since he did not regret paying almost $220,400 for an extraordinary passage through the Panama Canal, although if he had waited a week or two, he would have had to shell out only $13,400.