After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government in 1999. The US continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for handover to Panama. The United States took over the project on May 4, 1904, and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped because of lack of investors' confidence due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate.
One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan and the even less popular route through the Arctic Archipelago and the Bering Strait.Ĭolombia, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade. The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82 km (51 mi) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The panamax ship MSC Poh Lin exiting the Miraflores locks, March 2013
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