Today in History - Nov 17 - The Panama Canal

November 17 is the anniversary of the first ship sailing through The Panama Canal in 1914. One of the clearest cuts of American imperialism, the canal bridging the Pacific and Atlantic oceans took the US 10 years to build, and remains in operation today (when climate change doesn't make it dry up).

Our story begins in 1903. France had thrown in the towel on constructing it after an 8 year attempt. Dangerous working conditions had drawn out the construction, and in the end over 20,000 workers had been killed, and the project was bankrupt. The US had an extreme interest in having such a canal, so decided to pick up where the French left off. They entered into negotiations with Colombia to lease the land on which the canal was to be built. But the Colombian government was stalling for time. The French canal company was scheduled to revert to Colombian ownership in 1904, and if they were able to draw the process out, they would get the payout for the French assets instead of the French shareholders.

But the US regime saw this as a great opportunity to get an even better deal for the canal's land. They knew that there was a Panamanian independence movement. On November 3 of 1903, they supported that movement, and sent their navy to prevent Colombia from responding. The US had formally recognised Panama as independent and had troops on the ground in Panama before Colombia could even finish mobilising. Four days later, Panama had signed the lease, literally at gunpoint. 10 years later, and at the cost of another 5,600 worker lives, the canal was finished.

Panamanians were never pleased with the deal. Eventually in 1964, Panamanians rose up against their oppressors. Although unsuccessful at removing them from their country, it opened up the door to serious talks about handing the canal back to Panama. It would be another 36 years, but eventually Panama would win the fight. US infrastructure improvements had rendered the canal largely unimportant to the regime, and their policy of keeping the tolls low in order to aid the rich was ending up costing them more than it was earning. In essence, they lost interest in owning the canal, and surrendered it back to Panama at the turn of the millenium.