During the late 1800s, France was an undeniable force in the engineering world. It would turn out, however, that America was the country which would succeed in constructing the marvelous Panama Canal. The location was chosen as a means of joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans--an action that was sure to open up new trade opportunities by limiting sail time and difficulties for men of the sea. It proved to be a sluggish effort from the get-go, much to the French’s distaste, as locating the optimal digging location proved to be no easy feat.…
The idea of a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans had been discussed for some time. Such a canal would cut travel time for military and commercial ships. Ships would no longer have to go all the way around South America in order to get from one ocean to the other. The narrow Isthmus of Panama was a logical place to cut a canal.…
The I&M Canal began Chicago's popularity and growth. It created the opportunity to bring more commerce into Illinois. The I&M Canal was very good for the Illinois community. But it did not just help Chicago, it helped other cities in Illinois and and states across the country. The I&M Canal also attracted many workers and visitors from everywhere around the world. Even though the I&M Canal is no longer in use today, we can still enjoy and appreciate the canal era and what it brought to our…
On May 4, 1904, the The U.S. took control of the Panama Canal property. Aware of the possibility of Europe interfering in the internal affairs of Latin American nations, President…
Most of the citizens made a living out of the canal. The challenge was when routes were shifted to new locations by the state. Some did miss such shifting. The general welfare of the community was also in question, although the business classes did claim they were contributing to such. The last chapter records the risks of having the canal, “Perils of progress.”…
However in 1848 they couldn’t pay for it and lost their rights regarding the railroad. In 1848 the California gold rush occurred. This alone caused heavy traffic across the Isthmus of Panama. Later that year in December, U.S Company, the Panama railroad company negotiated a new contract with Bogota, Colombia to build the railroad across the Isthmus in 6 years. Part of the contract said that the trip would be guaranteed in less than 12 hours. The railroad was built and completed the journey in 4 ½ hours. But Matthew Fontaine Maury, leading U.S. government scientist wrote to congress that the railroad Isthmus of Panama will lead to the construction of a ship canal between the two oceans, for a railroad can’t do the business which commerce will require…
As well as the paddlewheel boat, the canal lock helped to improve exploration and travel throughout Imperial China. When a boat entered the lock, a gate was lowered to hold in water. The water was then allowed to rise until it reached the level of the water up ahead. Then the boat floated on to its journey. To go “downhill”, water was released by the lock until it fell to the level of the water down below. Before the canal lock was invented, the Chinese had to drag their boats up stone ramps to reach water at the higher level, which became difficult and damaged their boats. Now that the canal lock became known, it helped the Chinese transfer their boats from different levels of water. People still use them to this day as a device for water…
The Suez Canal is a shipping route that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red sea, that allows ships and cargo to pass, reducing the distance, time and effort. In 1869, the Suez Canal was officially up and running, and because of this great…
The First Transcontinental Railroad, originally known as the “Pacific Railroad” constituted one of the most significant and ambitious American technological advancements of the 19th century following the building of the Erie Canal in the 1820s and the crossing of the Isthmus of Panama by the Panama Railroad in 1855. It served as a vital link for trade, commerce and travel that joined the eastern and western halves of the late 19th-century United States. The transcontinental railroad slowly ended most of the slower and more hazardous stagecoach lines and wagon trains that had preceded it. They provided much faster, safer, and cheaper transport east and west for people and goods across half a continent. Although the railway spanned across…
As Americans tried to expand themselves across the country they found it harder to move past the Appalachian Mountains. They were far from the markets and traveling was difficult, not safe, and expensive. Having to trade and make bargain with the neighbors nearby was all that could be done. These difficulties brought the rise of great inventions that were made in which helped America build their era of Transport Revolution (Lec 11). The invention of the Erie canal, being 363 miles long going across upstate NY “allowed goods to flow between the Great Lakes and New York City” (GML 322). This new invention attracted so many farmers to move closer so that they could work the land and make a profit, making NYC the port of choice for the mid-west (Lec 11). The success of the Erie Canal was so high that other states wanted to match such a grand project. Eventually, “more than 3000 miles of canals had been built, creating a network linking the Atlantic states with the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys” (GML 322). This helped the cost of transportation to be reduced drastically to a high 90% (Lec 11). None the less, the Erie Canal was not the…
Panama has a population of 2.77 million people. The population mainly consists of mestizo, white, and West Indian blacks. The four largest cities in Panama are Panama City, San Miguelito, Colón, and David. The Panama Canal was opened on August 14, 1914. Panama signed treaty with the United States giving rights to control an area of the canal that is ten miles wide and fifty miles long. The Canal Zone played an important role in trade for most of the 20th century. The Canal was transferred to Panama on December 31, 1999. Panama is economically and politically dependent on the United States. Education in Panama started in 1903. Primary and Secondary education flourished in the 20th Century. Panama now has one of the highest literacy rates in Central America (Education…
While Teddy was president, he wanted to prove his dominance throughout the country, by providing a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Before the idea of the canal, many were having to travel by foot or canal through the isthmus’s swamps, jungle, and very narrow mountains. This was not only rough for travelers,…
Throughout history, the United States has discovered ways to adapt to change through the use of technology and design related to the transportation industry and has effectively overcome obstacles in order to fulfill the needs of society. To modernize the country, new ideas, plans, and designs have been developed, over time, to support the vastly growing economy and population. Our nation’s growth can be directly traced back to new forms of technology invented, developed, and reproduced for society. Three different types of transportation systems/designs that were extremely crucial and revolutionized society, over the ages, are canals (especially the Erie…
The Panama Canal was really successful but it was hard to build.They had a lot of difficulties they had to overcome and one of them was that it was a jungle there and mountains.So that meant there was a lot of rocks,dirt,and mud when it rained.When they were in the jungle there was a lot of mosquitoz so the mozquitoz gave the men yellow fever.Also when they had to move the dirt and rocks it rained so it turned into mud and sometimes it cause mud slides.All of those difficulties caused a lot of people to die.…
Apart from the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal also made trading easier and cheaper across Egypt on the African continent. The man made canal is located by the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Egypt was the first country to dig a man made canal across its land that connected the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea through the branches of the Nile River. In 1854 Ferdinand de Lesseps, French consul to Cairo, made an agreement with the Ottoman governor of Egypt to build a canal 100 miles across the Isthmus of Suez; a strip of land located in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. A team of engineers created a plan to construct the Suez Canal and in 1856 the Suez Canal Company was also formed and granted the right to operate the canal for 99…