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Although Panamanians are keen to insist that their country is "much more than just a canal", the truth of the matter is that the Panama Canal remains the country's defining feature, the basis of its economy and the key to its history. Were it not for the US government's determination to build it, Panama might never have come into existence as an independent republic, yet it is also the root cause of the US's deeply resented influence and interventions in national affairs. The struggle to establish control of the canal was central to the emergence of a Panamanian identity, and though after more than ninety years it was finally handed over to Panamanian jurisdiction at midnight on December 31, 1999, its future remains one of the most controversial issues in Panamanian politics. The canal's configuration is such that the Pacific entrance is 43.2km east of the Atlantic entrance. From the Bahia de Panama on the Pacific side, it passes under the broad sweep of the Bridge of the Americas and alongside the port of Balboa, running at sea-level some 6km inland to the Miraflores Locks , where ships are raised some 16.5m to Lago de Miraflores. About 2km further on, ships are raised another 10m to the canal's maximum elevation of 26.5m above sea level by the Pedro Miguel Locks , beyond which they enter the Gaillard Cut (formerly known as Culebra, but renamed in honour of Colonel William Gaillard, the US engineer who was responsible for its excavation). Described by the English Lord Bryce as "the greatest liberty ever taken with nature", Culebra was the deepest and most difficult section of the canal construction, a 13.6km cut through the rock and shifting shale of the continental divide. An enormous amount of excavation was required, and the work was plagued by devastating landslides. The cut is currently being widened to allow two-way traffic, part of an ambitious investment programme that may include the construction of a third set of locks to take the growing number of ships too big to use the existing locks. After the confinement of the Gaillard Cut, the canal channel continues for 37.6km across the broad expanse of Lago Gatun , the largest artificial lake in the world when it was formed in 1913 by the damming of the Rio Chagres. Covering 420 square kilometres, the lake is placid and stunningly beautiful; until you see an ocean-going ship appear from behind one of the densely forested headlands, it is difficult to believe that it forms part of one of the busiest waterways in the world. At the lake's far end ships are brought back down to sea-level in three stages by the Gatun Locks , easily visited from Colon, after which they run 3km through a narrow cut into the calm Atlantic waters of Bahia Limon.
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