Magellan Ferdinand Magellan a Portuguese explorer reached the Pacific Ocean in the winter of 1519 to 1520 He was the first to do so by sailing around the southern tip of South America Without such a waterway reaching the Pacific Ocean from Europe was difficult Ships had to travel around the tip of South America The voyage was long and dangerous Still centuries passed without anyone building a canal In 1849 a group of U S businessmen built a railroad across the isthmus Ships took passengers and freight to the east coast of Panama Trains carried the people and goods across the isthmus Then other ships finished the voyage to ports on the Pacific Ocean Building the railroad proved to be difficult and expensive However by 1855 the trains were running The idea of a canal was not forgotten Another canal the Suez opened in 1869 This canal linked the Red and the Mediterranean seas through Egypt a country in northern Africa A Frenchman named Ferdinand de Lesseps was responsible for building the Suez Canal Now Lesseps wanted to build a canal in Central America ﱚ6ﱚ
Explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa crossed the Panama isthmus to the Pacific Ocean in 1513 Ferdinand de Lesseps made the first attempt to build a canal across Panama The Paris Geographical Society set up a committee to study the idea Lesseps led the committee French engineers went to Central America to study and map the land At the time Panama belonged to the country of Colombia which was created when Spain gave up its empire Before a canal could be built France needed approval from the Colombian government In 1878 France was given the right to build a canal along the route of the Panama Railroad In 1879 the world’s best engineers held a conference Some argued that the canal should be built in Nicaragua ﱚ7ﱚ
Tropical Disease In the 1880s doctors were not sure what caused tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever They did not know these diseases were spread by mosquitoes and treatments were few Half of those who came down with yellow fever died Malaria killed even more people Largely because of these diseases almost 20,000 lives were lost during the nine years France worked on the canal The distance between the coasts was longer than in Panama but construction would be easier because the land was much flatter Lesseps and others wanted to build in Panama In the end their plan was approved Lesseps was put in charge of the project His first task was to raise money For a while Lesseps had trouble getting investors Then he made a trip to Panama to build support The French left their equipment behind in Panama when they gave up on their canal project ﱚ8ﱚ
He was able to convince thousands of investors to buy shares in his company When work started in 1880 one important matter had not yet been settled Should the canal be dug so the entire length was at sea level Or should locks lift and lower ships along the way The Suez Canal was at sea level It was 100 miles 160 kilometers long Lesseps also wanted to build the Panama Canal at sea level It would only have to be 50 miles 80 kilometers long However some engineers disagreed They pointed out that the Suez Canal was built across flat sandy land Panama was rocky with steep hills and valleys In the end Lesseps got his way The canal would be built at sea level without locks Work went very slowly There were constant problems Landslides slowed the work and killed or injured workers Panama’s eight-month rainy season caused delays The twisting Chagres River flooded frequently Tropical diseases weakened or killed many workers Lesseps finally admitted that locks were needed Unfortunately his decision came too late In February 1889 the company ran out of money Work on the canal ended It looked like there might never be a passage between the two oceans ﱚ9ﱚ
