aug 15, 1914 - Panama Canal

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After the French had failed to build the canal in the 1880s, the United States commenced building the Canal themselves. Following the push from the U.S. Isthmian Canal Commission and President Teddy Roosevelt, the United States government bought the canal zone rights from the French for 40 million. The United States then couldn’t get the deal done to build the Canal so they had to use the Panamanian Independence movement to get their deal done and by the end they were building the canal to allow for an easier passage of ships in South America. Disease carrying Mosquitoes and horrendous labor conditions in Panama halted the finishing of the Canal but eventually by 1914 the Canal was finished, costing roughly $350 million dollars.

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