Does anyone know when the Panama Canal was handed over to the U.S. for them to build it instead of the French?

Question

Thank you!

It's for a project!

10 points

Answer 1

EARLY EFFORTS. Clayton-Bulwar Treaty of 1850. United States and Great Britain agree to joint control of a canal to be built across Central America.

PANAMA ROAD. Isthmus of Panama becomes important transportation route to California during Gold Rush of 1840's. New York businessmen receive permission from Colombia to build railroad connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans at the isthmus.

FRENCH FAILURE. French company under Ferdinand de Lesseps buys franchise to build a sea-level canal across Panama. Inadequate tools and machinery, tropical diseases, and corruption lead to bankruptcy of the company in 1889.

HAY-BUNAU-VARILLA TREATY OF 1903. United States encouraged to take initiative to build a canal following battleship Oregon's 13,000 mile trip from the west coast around South America during Spanish-American War. In 1899 Congress authorizes a commission to study and survey canal routes. In 1902 Theodore Roosevelt is authorized to purchase canal property and rights from the French. United States Congress offers $10,000,000.00 to Colombia for the right to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Colombian government refuses offer. Because the United States, France, and the Panamanians are afraid that the agreement will not be approved, Panama (with the encouragement and assistance of the U.S.) successfully revolts against Colombia. The U.S. signs the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903), an agreement with Panama, which gives the U.S. exclusive control of a ten-mile wide canal zone in exchange for $10,000,000.00 as an initial payment and an annual payment of $250,000.00.

Answer 2

Keep it simple you guys...

The question was: Does anyone know when the Panama Canal was handed over to the U.S. for them to build it instead of the French?

The answer is in Dec 18, 1903 with the Hay-Bunau Varilla treaty.

Hay was the US secretary of state, varilla was with the french.

I know this c**p, I'm half Panamanian.

Answer 3

The earliest mention of a canal across the isthmus of Central America dates back to 1532, when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, suggested that a canal in Panama would ease the voyage for ships travelling to and from Spain and Peru.[4]

During his exploring expedition of 1788-1793 Alessandro Malaspina demonstrated the feasibility of a canal and outlined plans for its construction.[5]

Given the strategic situation of Central America as a narrow land dividing two great oceans, other forms of trade links were attempted over the years. The ill-fated Darien scheme was an attempt launched by the Kingdom of Scotland in 1698 to set up an overland trade route, but was defeated by the generally inhospitable conditions, and abandoned two years later in 1700.[6] Finally, the Panama Railway was built across the isthmus opening in 1855. This overland link greatly facilitated trade, and this vital piece of infrastructure was a key factor in the selection of the later canal route.

Construction work on the Gaillard Cut is shown in this photograph from 1907

Construction work on the Gaillard Cut is shown in this photograph from 1907

An all-water route between the oceans was still seen as the ideal solution, and the idea of a canal was enhanced by the success of the Suez Canal. The French, under Ferdinand de Lesseps, began construction on a sea-level canal (i.e., without locks) through the province of Panama (as it was then) on January 1, 1880. The French began work in a rush with insufficient prior study of the geology and hydrology of the region.[7] Disease, particularly malaria and yellow fever, sickened and killed vast numbers of employees, ranging from laborers to top directors of the French Company. Public health measures were ineffective because the role of the mosquito was then unknown. These conditions made it impossible to maintain an experienced work force as fearful technical employees quickly returned to France. Even the hospitals contributed to the problem, providing breeding places for mosquitoes inside the unscreened wards. Actual conditions were hushed-up in France to avoid recruitment problems.[7] In 1893, after a great deal of work, the French scheme was abandoned due to disease and the sheer difficulty of building a sea-level canal, as well as lack of French field experience, such as downpours causing steel equipment to rust.[8] The high toll from disease was one of the major factors in the failure; as many as 22,000 workers are estimated to have died during the main period of French construction (1881–1889).[7]

According to Stephen Kinzer's 2006 book Overthrow, in 1898 the chief of the French Canal Syndicate (a group that owned large swathes of land across Panama), Philippe Bunau Varilla, hired William Nelson Cromwell (of the US law firm Sullivan & Cromwell) to lobby the US Congress to build a canal across Panama, and not across Nicaragua.

In 1902, after having run into a 10-cent Nicaraguan postal stamp produced in the US by the American Bank Note Company erroneously depicting a fuming Momotombo volcano (which was nearly dormant and stands more than 160 km (100 miles) from the proposed Nicaraguan canal path) and taking advantage of a particularly volcanic year in the Caribbean, Cromwell planted a story in the New York Sun reporting that the Momotombo volcano had erupted and caused a series of seismic shocks. He thereafter sent leaflets with the above stamps pasted on them to all U.S. Senators as witness to the volcanic activity in Nicaragua.

On June 19, 1902, three days after senators received the stamps, they voted for the Panama route for the canal. For his lobbying efforts, Cromwell received the sum of $800,000.[9]

The United States, under Theodore Roosevelt (with John Frank Stevens as Chief Engineer from 1905-1907), bought out the French equipment and excavations, and began work on May 4, 1904, after helping Panama achieve independence from Colombia. In exchange for U.S. help in separating Panama from Colombia and setting it up as an independent nation, Panama would give the United States control of the Panama Canal Zone.[attribution needed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Cana...

Answer 4

The earliest mention of a canal across the isthmus of Central America dates back to 1532, when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, suggested that a canal in Panama would ease the voyage for ships travelling to and from Spain and Peru.[4]

During his exploring expedition of 1788-1793 Alessandro Malaspina demonstrated the feasibility of a canal and outlined plans for its construction.[5]

Given the strategic situation of Central America as a narrow land dividing two great oceans, other forms of trade links were attempted over the years. The ill-fated Darien scheme was an attempt launched by the Kingdom of Scotland in 1698 to set up an overland trade route, but was defeated by the generally inhospitable conditions, and abandoned two years later in 1700.[6] Finally, the Panama Railway was built across the isthmus opening in 1855. This overland link greatly facilitated trade, and this vital piece of infrastructure was a key factor in the selection of the later canal route.



Construction work on the Gaillard Cut is shown in this photograph from 1907An all-water route between the oceans was still seen as the ideal solution, and the idea of a canal was enhanced by the success of the Suez Canal. The French, under Ferdinand de Lesseps, began construction on a sea-level canal (i.e., without locks) through the province of Panama (as it was then) on January 1, 1880. The French began work in a rush with insufficient prior study of the geology and hydrology of the region.[7] Disease, particularly malaria and yellow fever, sickened and killed vast numbers of employees, ranging from laborers to top directors of the French Company. Public health measures were ineffective because the role of the mosquito was then unknown. These conditions made it impossible to maintain an experienced work force as fearful technical employees quickly returned to France. Even the hospitals contributed to the problem, providing breeding places for mosquitoes inside the unscreened wards. Actual conditions were hushed-up in France to avoid recruitment problems.[7] In 1893, after a great deal of work, the French scheme was abandoned due to disease and the sheer difficulty of building a sea-level canal, as well as lack of French field experience, such as downpours causing steel equipment to rust.[8] The high toll from disease was one of the major factors in the failure; as many as 22,000 workers are estimated to have died during the main period of French construction (1881–1889).[7]

According to Stephen Kinzer's 2006 book Overthrow, in 1898 the chief of the French Canal Syndicate (a group that owned large swathes of land across Panama), Philippe Bunau Varilla, hired William Nelson Cromwell (of the US law firm Sullivan & Cromwell) to lobby the US Congress to build a canal across Panama, and not across Nicaragua.

In 1902, after having run into a 10-cent Nicaraguan postal stamp produced in the US by the American Bank Note Company erroneously depicting a fuming Momotombo volcano (which was nearly dormant and stands more than 160 km (100 miles) from the proposed Nicaraguan canal path) and taking advantage of a particularly volcanic year in the Caribbean, Cromwell planted a story in the New York Sun reporting that the Momotombo volcano had erupted and caused a series of seismic shocks. He thereafter sent leaflets with the above stamps pasted on them to all U.S. Senators as witness to the volcanic activity in Nicaragua.

On June 19, 1902, three days after senators received the stamps, they voted for the Panama route for the canal. For his lobbying efforts, Cromwell received the sum of $800,000.[9]

The United States, under Theodore Roosevelt (with John Frank Stevens as Chief Engineer from 1905-1907), bought out the French equipment and excavations, and began work on May 4, 1904, after helping Panama achieve independence from Colombia. In exchange for U.S. help in separating Panama from Colombia and setting it up as an independent nation, Panama would give the United States control of the Panama Canal Zone.[attribution needed]

Chief Engineer's (1905-1907), John Frank Stevens, primary achievement in Panama was in building the infrastructure necessary to complete the canal. He rebuilt the Panama Railway and devised a system for disposing of soil from the excavations by rail. He also built proper housing for canal workers and oversaw extensive sanitation and mosquito-control programs that eliminated Yellow Fever and other diseases from the Isthmus. Stevens argued the case against a sea level canal like the French had tried to build. He successfully convinced Theodore Roosevelt of the necessity of a canal built with dams and locks.

A significant investment was made in eliminating disease from the area, particularly yellow fever and malaria, the causes of which had recently been discovered by Dr. Walter Reed in Cuba with U.S. Army motivation during the Spanish-American War (see Health measures during the construction of the Panama Canal). With the diseases under control, and after significant work on preparing the infrastructure, construction of an elevated canal with locks began in earnest. The Americans also gradually replaced the old French equipment with machinery designed for a larger scale of work (such as the giant hydraulic crushers supplied by the Joshua Hendy Iron Works), quickening the pace of construction,[7] President Roosevelt had the former French machinery minted into pins for all workers who spent at least two years on the construction to commemorate their contribution to the building of the canal.

In 1907 US President Theodore Roosevelt appointed George Washington Goethals as chief engineer of the Panama Canal. The building of the Canal was completed in 1914, two years ahead of the target date of June 1, 1916. The canal was formally opened on August 15, 1914 with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon.[10] Coincidentally, this was also the same month that fighting in World War I began in Europe.

The advances in hygiene resulted in a relatively low death toll during the American construction; still, 5,609 workers died during this period (1904–1914).[11] This brought the total death toll for the construction of the canal to around 27,500.

By the 1930s it was seen that water supply would be an issue for the canal; this prompted the building of the Madden Dam across the Chagres River above Gatun Lake. The dam, completed in 1935, created Alajuela Lake, which acts as additional water storage for the canal.[12][13] In 1939, construction began on a further major improvement: a new set of locks for the canal, large enough to carry the larger warships which the U.S. had under construction, or planned for future construction. The work proceeded for several years, and significant excavation was carried out on the new approach channels, but the project was canceled after World War II.[14][15]



USS Missouri passes through the canalAfter the war, United States' control of the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it became contentious as relations between Panama and the U.S. became increasingly tense. Many Panamanians felt that the canal zone rightfully belonged to Panama; student protests were met by the fencing in of the zone and an increased military presence.[16] Negotiations toward a new settlement began in 1974, and resulted in the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. Signed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos of Panama on September 7, 1977, this set in motion the process of handing the canal over to Panamanian control for free as long as Panama signed a treaty guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of the Canal (Neutrality Treaty) and allowed the U.S. to come back anytime. Though controversial within the U.S., the treaty led to full Panamanian control effective at noon on December 31, 1999, and control of the canal was handed over to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).

Before this handover, the government of Panama held an international bid to negotiate a 25-year contract for operation of the Canal's container shipping ports (chiefly two facilities at the Atlantic and Pacific outlets), which was won by the firm Hutchison Whampoa, a Hong Kong-based shipping concern whose owner, Li Ka Shing, is the wealthiest man in China