Panama Canal

Canal across the Panama isthmus in Central America, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Built by the USA 1904–14, it is one of the world's most strategic waterways. The Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Zone, comprising land extending about 5 km/3 mi on either side of the canal, were controlled by the USA from 1903. Under the terms of the Panama Canal treaty of 1977, Panama took control of the zone in 1979 and complete control of the canal on 1 January 2000.

The Panama Canal is 80 km/50 mi in length, with 12 locks; average width 150 m/492 ft. It runs southeast from Cristóbal on the Atlantic to Balboa on the Pacific. The canal enables ships travelling between the east and west coasts of the USA that would otherwise have to go around Cape Horn in South America to shorten dramatically their voyages.

The original construction company, headed by the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, began construction in 1879, but collapsed in 1889 because of financial scandals. It was designed to ensure free passage to international shipping in a turbulent area, but in the 1960s was the focus of US strategy in South America as a training ground for special forces devised by President Kennedy to fight irregular wars. Nationalist feeling in Panama led to anti-US riots in 1964, and pressure mounted against US control of the canal.