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The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82-kilometre (51-mile) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, and is a conduit for maritime trade.
- May 4, 1904; 119 years ago
- 3 locks up, 3 down per transit; all three lanes, (3 lanes of locks)
- 82 km (51 miles)
- Open, expansion opened June 26, 2016
- Overview
- The canal
The Panama Canal is a constructed waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Isthmus of Panama. It is owned and administered by Panama, and it is 40 miles long from shoreline to shoreline. Ships can cross going in either direction, and it takes about 10 hours to get from one side to the other. Ships from any country are treated equally with respect to conditions of passage and tolls.
Why is the Panama Canal important?
Before the Panama Canal was built, ships traveling between the east and west coasts of the American continents had to go around Cape Horn in South America, a voyage that was some 8,000 nautical miles longer then going through the canal and that took about two months to complete. All journeys between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are shortened by thousands of nautical miles by going through the canal.
How was the Panama Canal made?
The Panama Canal was made by building dams on the Chagres River to create Gatun Lake and Lake Madden, digging the Gaillard Cut from the river between the two lakes and over the Continental Divide, building locks between the Atlantic Ocean and Gatun Lake to lift boats to the lake and another set of locks at the end of the Gaillard Cut to lower ships, and digging a channel to the Pacific Ocean.
Why does the Panama Canal need locks?
The Panama Canal lies at a latitude of 9° N, at a point where the North American Continental Divide dips to one of its lowest points. The canal does not, as is generally supposed, cross the isthmus from east to west. It runs due south from its entrance at Colón on the Atlantic side through the Gatún Locks to a point in the widest portion of Gatún Lake; it then turns sharply toward the east and follows a course generally to the southeast until it reaches the Bay of Panama, on the Pacific side. Its terminus near Balboa is some 25 miles (40 km) east of its terminus near Colón. Parallel to the canal are the Panama Canal Railway and the Boyd-Roosevelt Highway.
In passing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, vessels enter the approach channel in Limón Bay, which extends a distance of about 7 miles (11 km) to the Gatún Locks. At Gatún a series of three locks lifts vessels 85 feet (26 metres) to Gatún Lake. The lake, formed by Gatún Dam on the Chagres River and supplemented by waters from Alajuela Lake (Lake Madden; formed by the Madden Dam), covers an area of 166 square miles (430 square km). The channel through the lake varies in depth from 46 to 85 feet (14 to 26 metres) and extends for about 23 miles (37 km) to Gamboa. Gaillard (Culebra) Cut begins at Gamboa and passes through the Continental Divide. The channel through the cut has an average depth of about 43 feet (13 metres) and extends some 8 miles (13 km) to the Pedro Miguel Locks. The locks lower vessels 30 feet (9 metres) to Miraflores Lake, at an elevation of 52 feet (16 metres) above sea level. Vessels then pass through a channel almost 1.2 miles (2 km) long to the two-stepped locks at Miraflores, where they are lowered to sea level. The final segment of the canal is a dredged approach passage 7 miles long through which ships pass into the Pacific. Throughout its length the canal has a minimum bottom width of 500 feet (150 metres); in Gatún Lake the width of the channel varies between 500 and 1,000 feet (150 and 300 metres), and in Miraflores Lake the width is 740 feet (225 metres).
Britannica Quiz
Water and its Varying Forms
Aug 4, 2015 · The Panama Canal is a massive engineering marvel that connects the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean through a 50-mile series of shipping canals and locks.
- Elizabeth Nix
- The idea for a canal across Panama dates back to the 16th century. In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa became the first European to discover that the Isthmus of Panama was just a slim land bridge separating the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
- The men behind the Suez Canal and Eiffel Tower were convicted in connection with failed effort to build a canal. In the ensuing centuries, various nations considered developing a Panamanian canal but a serious attempt wasn’t made until the 1880s.
- America originally wanted to build a canal in Nicaragua, not Panama. Throughout the 1800s, the United States, which wanted a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific for economic and military reasons, considered Nicaragua a more feasible location than Panama.
- More than 25,000 workers died during the canal’s construction. The canal builders had to contend with a variety of obstacles, including challenging terrain, hot, humid weather, heavy rainfall and rampant tropical diseases.
The idea of the Panama Canal dates back to 1513, when Vasco Núñez de Balboa first crossed the Isthmus of Panama. This narrow land bridge between North and South America was a fine location to dig a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914, connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and significantly shortens some shipping routes by allowing vessels to bypass South America. This infographic provides a timeline and map of the Panama Canal along with a number of interesting facts.
Panama Canal, the lock-type canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the narrow Isthmus of Panama. The length of the Panama Canal from shoreline to shoreline is about 40 miles (65 km). It was completed in 1914 and is one of the two most strategic artificial waterways in the world.
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