The French Canal Venture
In 1869 the opening of the first transcontinental railway in the US reduced traffic through Panama, but the completion of the Suez Canal that same year at last made the longstanding dream of a canal across the isthmus a realistic possibility. Well aware of the strategic advantages such a waterway would offer - the journey of a ship travelling from, for example, Boston to San Francisco would be reduced from 21,000km to just 8000km if it could cross the continent by passing through Panama rather than going all the way round Cape Horn - Britain, France and the US all sent expeditions to seek a suitable route. It was the French, though, who took the initiative, buying a concession to build a canal from the Colombian Government. In 1881, led by Ferdinand de Lesseps , the architect responsible for the Suez Canal, the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique began excavations. But despite De Lesseps' vision and determination, the "venture of the century" proved to be an unmitigated disaster. In the face of the impassable terrain - forests, swamps and the shifting shales of the continental divide - the proposed sea-level canal proved technically unfeasible, while yellow fever and malaria ravaged the workforce, killing as many as 20,000. In 1889 the Compagnie collapsed as a result of financial mismanagement and corruption, implicating the highest levels of French society in what the official described as "the greatest fraud of modern times". But the dream of an interoceanic canal would not die. The US government, never keen on the idea of a canal controlled by a European power and convinced by its 1898 war with Spain of the military importance of a fast passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, took up the challenge. President Theodore Roosevelt in particular was convinced that the construction of a canal across Central America was an essential step in pursuit of the control of all the Americas. At first the US favoured building a canal through Nicaragua, but the persuasive lobbying of Philipe Bunau-Varilla, a French engineer anxious to profit from the sale of the French rights and equipment, swung the crucial Senate vote in Panama's favour. A treaty allowing the US to build the canal was negotiated with the Colombian government in 1903, but the Colombian Senate refused to ratify it. Outraged that "the Bogota lot of jackrabbits should be allowed to bar one of the future highways of civilization", Roosevelt gave unofficial backing to Panamanian secessionists who had long been seeking independence. The small Colombian garrison in Panama City was bribed to switch sides and a second force that had landed at Colon agreed to return to Colombia without a fight after its officers had been tricked into captivity by the rebels. On November 3, 1903 the Republic of Panama was declared and immediately recognized by the US, whose gunships standing offshore prevented Colombian reinforcements from landing to crush the rebellion. Though it is true that Panama would never have come into existence as an independent republic without the involvement of the US, the independence movement was not wholly a US invention. The Panamanian merchant elite had good reason to seek independence - rule from remote Bogota limited Panama's ability to trade and involved it in Colombia's endless civil wars - and had attempted secession 33 times in the previous seventy years. The difference, in 1903, was the support of the US, and this, as the Panamanians were soon to discover, came at a high price
boat or ferries in Colonandrea says "Hello I wish to go in Colombia ( Cartagena) by boat or ferry from Colon (Panama). You could send me by mail the addresses of maritime companies or ferry operating in this zone (complete addresses and internet addresses) I thank you in advance.
Andrea.eric@mls.nc" ferries Colon to cartagena (Colombia)andrea says "Hello I wish to go in Colombia ( Cartagena) by boat or ferry from Colon (Panama). You could send me by mail the addresses of maritime companies or ferries operating in this zone (complete addresses and internet addresses) I thank you in advance.
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located at calle virgincita in san mateo abajo, david panama about 5 minute or 1-2 dollar taxi ride from bus station phone 507-730-2961" bambu hostel david panamamike charles says "sorry forgot to add the name it is bambuhostel.com"
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