FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2023-35 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (February 23, 2023) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps from Steve Kovacs, we celebrate U.S. control of an important waterway.  

SHORTCUT

Who doesn’t like a shortcut?

Ships love short cuts.  They move relatively slowly across the world’s waterways, seas and oceans, and any meaningful shortcut saves time, money and potentially lives.

Along with the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal is the most important shortcut for cargo ships.

The idea of building a canal in Panama originates with the Spanish from 1534 to expedite travel between Spain and Peru, their important South American possession at the time.   The journey around South America was long and dangerous.

It took the French to seriously consider building a canal in Panama, and their work commenced in 1881.  But the tropical conditions of eight months of rainy season, plus significant losses of workers to yellow fewer, malaria and other assorted tropical diseases halted the efforts in 1899.  

Subsequently the US maneuvered to gain control of the land for the canal on February 23, 1904.  Learning from past mistakes, the 51-mile-long canal was completed in 1914.

Over 14,000 ship passages took place in the canal in 2022 between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

This Cram map of the Panama Canal region was issued upon completion of the canal in 1914.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.