Panama Canal Opens
The Panama Canal opened, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
August 15, 1914
Cutting Through a Continent
On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal officially opened for shipping, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through a 50-mile waterway cut across the Isthmus of Panama. It was one of the greatest engineering achievements in human history. Before the canal, ships traveling between the two oceans had to sail around the entire southern tip of South America — a journey of about 8,000 extra miles that added weeks to voyages. The canal eliminated that detour and transformed global trade and naval strategy. The first ship to make the full transit was the cargo ship SS Ancon, carrying a load of cement.
A Project Built on Sacrifice
The United States built the canal after France had tried and failed — at enormous cost in lives and money — in the 1880s. The American project, which ran from 1904 to 1914, employed tens of thousands of workers, many of them from the Caribbean islands. The biggest challenge was not the engineering but the disease. Yellow fever and malaria had killed thousands of French workers and threatened to do the same to the American project. Dr. William Gorgas implemented a massive mosquito-control campaign that dramatically reduced the death toll, but it is estimated that over 5,600 workers died during the American construction phase, and around 22,000 during the earlier French effort.
A Waterway That Shapes the World
The Panama Canal instantly reshaped global trade routes. Products from Asia could reach the East Coast of the United States without going around South America. Naval ships could move rapidly between the Atlantic and Pacific. The canal was controlled by the United States until 1999, when Panama took full sovereignty over it — a transition that had been negotiated in a 1977 treaty signed by President Carter. Panama has since expanded the canal with a third set of larger locks, opened in 2016, allowing passage for the massive container ships of the modern era. Over 14,000 ships pass through the canal each year, carrying about 5 percent of all world trade.