The 48-mile (77 km) international waterway known as the Panama Canal allows ships to pass between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean, saving about 8,000 miles (12,875 km) from a journey around the southern tip of South America, Cape Horn. The new Panamanian government authorized French businessman, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, to negotiate a treaty with the United States. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty allowed the U.S. to build the Panama Canal and provided for perpetual control of a zone five miles wide on either side of the canal. Although the French had attempted construction of a canal in the 1880s, the Panama Canal was successfully built from 1904 to 1914. Once the canal was complete, the U.S. held a swath of land running the approximately 50 miles across the isthmus of Panama…. read more >
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