The Panama Canal Outline Format I Layout of

The Panama Canal Outline Format

I. Layout of the Panama Canal • Major ship canal • Cuts through the isthmus of Panama in Central America • Connects Atlantic and Pacific Ocean • Largest and most difficult engineering project ever undertaken of that time • 48 miles long • Takes 9 hours to go through the canal

II. Building the Panama Canal • First attempt was by the French in 1880 • 22, 000 workers died • U. S. President Theodore Roosevelt helped Panama become independent of Columbian rule • Then Panama allowed U. S. to cut canal • Opened in 1914 under U. S. law

III. Machinery of Panama Canal • Steam shovels were used to dig the canal • Rocks and dirt were hauled away in wagons and put on locomotives to transport elsewhere • Dynamite made the job very dangerous

IV. Climate and Health • Workers lived in buildings with no walls • They used nets to keep bugs away • The jungle heat killed many • Mosquitoes brought disease

V. Benefits of the Panama Canal • Time was saved sending products from one coast to the other • Time was saved sending war ships to war • Money was saved with this new shortcut

VI. Future of the Panama Canal • December 31, 1999 the country of Panama took control of the Panama Canal and currently governs the area • U. S. Treaty agrees to allow U. S. to use the canal anytime • Expansion of the canal was recently announced and will begin soon