The Importance Of The Panama Canal

A natural disaster has the capability to cause large scale damage and destruction to an area. Seismic events have been known to alter landscapes and affect the livelihoods, health and development of communities. No two earthquake events are the same and the level of threat posed by an earthquake can vary due to both the human and physical factors of an area. The 2010 magnitude - 7.0 earthquake that occurred in Haiti is an example of where a natural disaster caused a previously vulnerable area to suffer tremendous loss and debilitating socio-economic impacts, to an already poverty-stricken nation.

Illness and disease along with poverty still plague Haiti today. The effort to try and recover from the most recent earthquake tragedy has Haitians concerned. The conditions that they have endured in the past just to survive are worse than the conditions brought on by the earthquake. Some Haitian natives feel the Government is moving a bit slow in cleaning up and getting

For centuries, the idea of how to access the West Indies puzzled many sailors from across the globe. During colonial times, Europeans coveted the spices and goods found in Asian countries, but the inability of their sponsored expeditions to discover a time-saving western passageway hindered their interaction with this region of the world. As time progressed, nations began to find ways to trade with Asia, but the routes taken were long, expensive, and hazardous. According to an article found in the publication, Civil Engineering, “… the only way for a ship to travel between the oceans was via the Strait of Magellan, at the southern tip of South America, a dangerous and time-consuming route.” However, in nineteen fourteen, their struggles finally ended. At last, the completion of the Panama Canal provided a shorter sea route between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean for trading countries all over the world. This occasion revolutionized sea travel and was consequently a widely documented and publicized event. Countless images and articles were created throughout the early twentieth century, which magnified the importance of this project. This collection of primary sources captures the significance of the Panama Canal for the American people and the international community at that time. The synchronic analysis of such documents will foster a greater appreciation for the Panama Canal and the influence it has had on civilization since its inception.

A social factor that influenced the severity of the earthquake was where people chose to live. Haiti is located on fault lines, where the epicentre of the earthquake is and where the earthquake is most severe. The earthquake’s epicentre was estimated to be around a mere 25 km away from the Port-au-prince, the capital of Haiti and home to ¼ of the population. The closer the area was to the epicentre, the more intense the earthquake was and the greater the destruction. The area was also urbanised with many buildings, due to the great number of people who resided there which meant that many buildings were destroyed and many people were killed.

It is interesting to see how Americans saw themselves and their capitalistic system during the early 1900s. The American quest to civilize the world with plans like the Panama Canal was referred to as a gift, a selfless act from the United States for the betterment of mankind (Herring 2008, 337). I am certain that the Panama Canal created many opportunities for the people in Central America, but was it in fact a sign of American kindness or was that canal done because it increased trade, income, and improved security in the United States? Furthermore, how wrong was Norman Angell? His theory did not hold for more than four years. Mankind is incapable of achieving peace and will continue to live in a constant state of struggle. Additionally, the early 1900s had a resemblance to the Cold War that started four decades later. The Russians and the British encircled Germany and contained her, and yet Stalin was surprise when the allies did the same to him after WWII?

The 1906 disaster, a major earthquake estimated at between 7.8 and 8.3 magnitude. Haiti’s was a 7.0 in 2010.On

Most of Haiti's problems start with the natural disasters such as the earthquakes and the hurricanes. The junior scholastic notes that the hurricane Mathews hit Haiti last October carrying winds of 145 miles per hour. This hurricane carried away almost everything in its path. It killed 1000 and left 175000 people home less, mentions the junior scholastic. Meanwhile the earthquake was no different, the junior scholastic states that the earthquake of 2010 killed 316000 and displaced 1.5 million people.The earthquake and hurricane are only some natural disasters that have hit Haiti. Haiti has faced a lot more because of its location.

In order to get to the Pacific Ocean from the east coast of the United States you must either, go around Canada, go around South America, or go all the way around the world. These were the only ways to get to the Pacific from the Atlantic Ocean until 1914. The most common way the American navy would get there was around South America. In many instances when there was problems on the west or east coast that needed naval intervention it took a significant amount of time for the navy to reinforce them. This could end up being a serious problem for the United States if there was any large scale problem on the west or east coast that involved the navy, it could take a detrimental amount of time for the reinforcements to arrive. They needed a way to connect the two seas so that it could help them to reduce the time necessary to get from one coast to another and so that other ships could get access to both seas without much trouble. The creation of the Panama Canal was the most efficient and effective way to connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

On January 2010 a devastating thing happened that lasted approximately 90 seconds but forever changed Haiti. January 12 a devastating earthquake struck their country leaving behind a wrath of destruction. The earthquake measured out at 7.0 on the rector scale. Sadly, up 200,000 people were lost to the deadly earthquake. Over 1.5 million people were left homeless and after 5 years over 80,000 Haitians are still living in makeshift shelters and tents in Port-au

Constructing the Panama Canal was not easy, they had to overcome diseases, deaths, machine problems and many more. Yellow fever has been around for centuries and the workers in panama contracted it. Not only that but mosquitoes that were carrying around malaria got a lot of the population sick/ infected. A man named walter reed had contracted malaria and survived. He requested 1 million for sanitation and killing mosquitoes but got denied, then he got the money he requested. He reduced the amount of infected people down to 5%. Besides diseases and animals there were bigger problems. The land. It was not level and there were mountains in the way. So they built locks to go over the mountains, but there is also flooding there so they built a dam. Still to this day their are still problems with the

The Panama Canal was originally started back in the 1880s by the French and is considered by some to be the 8th Wonder of the World. Construction may have started in the 1880s, but the idea for such a canal started long before that time. Surveying for the canal started all the way back in the 1550s. The idea for such a canal came from how inconvenient travel and trade was without the canal. Ships used to have to travel all the way around the southern tip of South America to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The French finally decided to try and build a canal between the two oceans after over 300 years of different surveys being down around the area. The French chose to build the canal through Panama. There were close to 22,000 deaths caused by disease or accidents in the construction of the canal. The French were plagued by Malaria, or yellow fever, and were given many setbacks throughout their 9 year effort to build the canal. This combined with the French attempt going bankrupt caused them to have to give up on the try. The United States then came to agreement and signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty with the French, officially

This is a good thing about Latin America because it would probably impact the economy if it wasn’t there. It is the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is a waterway that brings together the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. It really helped trade in Latin America. The canal was built by the Americans in 1904 and a lot of leaders took over the project, including John Wallace, John Stevens and George Washington Goethals. The project was finished in 1914 after taking 10 years to build. The Panama Canal is an important feature to Latin America because it is a quicker way to import and export goods or cargo. It made it easier because instead of going all the way around South America you can go through Panama which saves you a lot of time. That means a lot of more ships pass through. If there was no Panama Canal like I said it would take a lot longer to travel to bring stuff somewhere by water. I also think there would be less ships traveling because not a lot of people would like to travel a long time at sea. I also think a lot of people would die because the trip would take so long. That is how the Panama Canal impacted Latin America in a good way.

Also it was a way to get from the United States to other countries easier. The Panama Canal idea was since a long time ago back to 1534, and spain began with that idea of the canal. The Colombian government gave France the permission to create a canal through Panama in 1850 because Panama was territory of Colombia until 1903. Even though the French company began to big a sea-level canal across Panama until

The reason for the United States building the canal, was to prepare to go to war with Spain. The USS was ordered to leave California to head towards Cuba, but they realized that this trip would take 60 days and they would have to stop in South America numerous times for coal, before they would reach Cuba. After that, the U.S. knew that there had to be a route to take so they built the Panama Canal. Originally, the French started the Panama Canal in 1881, but they went bankrupt, so the United States agreed to pay for the costs and take up the construction. Columbia denied the United States the right to take over, which caused a revolt with the Panamanians. The Panamanians received their independence, which granted

The building of the Panama Canal greatly impacted how trade is shipped from other countries. It saves ships from having to travel all the way around South America by going straight through Central America. By linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Panama Canal cuts off nearly 8,000 miles from a ship’s journey around the Cape Horn. It is an important event in history because it affected trade and war strategy to make the U.S. more powerful and helpful to other nations.