Why was the Panama Canal built?

+35 votes
asked Mar 19, 2018 in Culture & Society by Xoshia (700 points)
edited May 12, 2019
My child just asked me this question and I cannot find the answer in my books. Why was the Panama Canal built?

1 Answer

+26 votes
answered Oct 10, 2018 by Ashley (600 points)
edited Apr 15, 2019

There are two important reasons the Panama Canal was built.

  1. The main reason the Panama Canal was built was for easier transporting of commercial good and other cargo. When shipping was the known way for transporting goods in the United States, a ship sending cargo from the East coast to the West coast, the ships would have to go completely around the continent of South America. The building of the Panama Canal allowed that trip to be cut short by two thirds. After the Panama Canal was built, the time it took to ship items from one United States coast to the other took closer to two and half weeks; as opposed to more than two months before the canal was opened. Today, still, nearly 300 million tons of cargo travel every single day through the canal.
  2. The second reason the Panama Canal was built was to allow military ships of the United States to have a shorter route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. President Theodore Roosevelt decided to fund the building of the Panama Canal after Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines became United States Territories. At this time, Columbia owned Panama and negotiations for the canal failed between the United States and Columbia. The United States, then helped Panama free itself from Columbian control. After Panama became independent of Columbian control, they sold rights to the United States for quite a hefty fee. Apparently, the United States President believed the canal was worth $10 million. Today, the canal is still utilized by the United States Military even though all bases there were closed in 1999.

REFERENCE:    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal

commented Aug 5, 2015 by fernando (530 points)
This answer is more explicit than the information in wiki.
commented Aug 7, 2015 by magen (730 points)
Why was the Panama Canal built? Only two reason?
Welcome to Instant Answer, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community.
...