Panama Canal
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- Spanish:
- Canal de Panamá
What is the Panama Canal?
The Panama Canal is a constructedwaterway that connects theAtlantic andPacific oceans across theIsthmus of Panama. It is owned and administered byPanama, and it is 40 miles long from shoreline to shoreline. Ships can cross going in either direction, and it takes about 10 hours to get from one side to the other. Ships from any country are treated equally with respect to conditions of passage and tolls.
Why is the Panama Canal important?
Before the Panama Canal was built, ships traveling between the east and west coasts of the American continents had to go aroundCape Horn inSouth America, a voyage that was some 8,000 nautical miles longer then going through the canal and that took about two months to complete. All journeys between theAtlantic andPacific oceans are shortened by thousands of nautical miles by going through the canal.
How was the Panama Canal made?
The Panama Canal was made by buildingdams on theChagres River to create Gatun Lake and Lake Madden, digging theGaillard Cut from the river between the two lakes and over theContinental Divide, buildinglocks between theAtlantic Ocean andGatun Lake to lift boats to the lake and another set of locks at the end of the Gaillard Cut to lower ships, and digging a channel to thePacific Ocean.
Why does the Panama Canal need locks?
Amountain range runs the length ofPanama, including through theCanal Zone, though it is lower there. In addition, the tidal levels of the oceans on either side of the Panama Canal differ.Locks raise ships to the level of the lakes (which account for about half the distance of the canal) and then lower them to sea level.
Who built the Panama Canal?
AFrench company headed byFerdinand, viscount de Lesseps, started to build a canal in 1881 but failed by 1889. TheUnited States, led by Pres.Theodore Roosevelt, negotiated theHay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, giving the U.S. control of theCanal Zone. Work under U.S. supervision began in 1904, and the Panama Canal was completed in 1914. Tens of thousands of people, mostly labourers fromBarbados,Martinique, andGuadeloupe, worked on the project.
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Panama Canal,lock-typecanal, owned andadministered by theRepublic of Panama, that connects theAtlantic andPacific oceans through the narrowIsthmus of Panama. The length of the Panama Canal from shoreline to shoreline is about 40 miles (65 km) and from deep water in the Atlantic (more specifically, theCaribbean Sea) to deep water in the Pacific about 50 miles (82 km). The canal, which was completed in August 1914, is one of the two most strategic artificial waterways in the world, the other being theSuez Canal.Ships sailing between the east and west coasts of the United States, which otherwise would be obliged to roundCape Horn inSouth America, shorten theirvoyage by about 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) by using the canal. Savings of up to 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) are also made on voyages between one coast ofNorth America andports on the other side of South America. Ships sailing betweenEurope andEast Asia orAustralia can save as much as 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) by using the canal.
From its opening in 1914 until 1979, the Panama Canal was controlled solely by theUnited States, which built it. In 1979, however, control of the canal passed to thePanama Canal Commission, a joint agency of the United States and the Republic of Panama, and complete control passed to Panama at noon on December 31, 1999. Administration of the canal is the responsibility of the Panama Canal Authority (Spanish: Autoridad del Canal de Panamá [ACP]), which answers solely to the government of Panama.
Physical features
The canal
The Panama Canal lies at a latitude of 9° N, at a point where the North AmericanContinental Divide dips to one of its lowest points. The canal does not, as is generally supposed, cross the isthmus from east to west. It runs due south from its entrance atColón on the Atlantic side through theGatún Locks to a point in the widest portion ofGatún Lake; it then turns sharply toward the east and follows a course generally to the southeast until it reaches the Bay of Panama, on the Pacific side. Its terminus nearBalboa is some 25 miles (40 km) east of its terminus near Colón. Parallel to the canal are the Panama Canal Railway and the Boyd-Roosevelt Highway.
In passing from the Atlantic to the Pacific,vessels enter the approach channel inLimón Bay, which extends a distance of about 7 miles (11 km) to the Gatún Locks. At Gatún a series of three locks lifts vessels 85 feet (26 meters) to Gatún Lake. The lake, formed by Gatún Dam on theChagres River and supplemented by waters from Alajuela Lake (Lake Madden; formed by the Madden Dam), covers an area of 166 square miles (430 square km). The channel through the lake varies in depth from 46 to 85 feet (14 to 26 meters) and extends for about 23 miles (37 km) toGamboa.Gaillard (Culebra) Cut begins at Gamboa and passes through the Continental Divide. The channel through the cut has an average depth of about 43 feet (13 meters) and extends some 8 miles (13 km) to the Pedro Miguel Locks. The locks lower vessels 30 feet (9 meters) toMiraflores Lake, at an elevation of 52 feet (16 meters) abovesea level. Vessels then pass through a channel almost 1.2 miles (2 km) long to the two-steppedlocks at Miraflores, where they are lowered to sea level. The final segment of the canal is a dredged approach passage 7 miles long through which ships pass into the Pacific. Throughout its length the canal has a minimum bottom width of 500 feet (150 meters); in Gatún Lake the width of the channel varies between 500 and 1,000 feet (150 and 300 meters), and in Miraflores Lake the width is 740 feet (225 meters).