Panama Canal: Then and Now

Nazeema Baboolall

Brad Neumyer

History

1534

19th Century

1819

1904-1914

Cost and Limits$370 million

$40 million

$10 million

965 ft.

106 ft.

39.5 ft.

190 ft.

US Control

Roosevelt Instrumental

From 42,000 to 88,000 “Zonians”

Racism in the Panama Canal Zone

1971 U.S. Revenue, $114,421,519

1985-1995

$460 million of revenues in 1995

Treaties

Spooner Act of 1902

Hay-Herran Treaty of 1903

Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, also in 1903

The Carter-Torrijos Treaties of 1977

Transition & DynamicsThe Panama Canal

Treaty of 1979

Withdrawal

Neutrality

Intervention

Pros & Cons$10 million annually,

adjusted

Percentage of annual tolls

Profit driven incentive

Panama uses U.S. currency

Environmental Effects

Deforestation

Lower rainfall rates

Loss of freshwater

Loss of vegetation

cover

Future of the Canal

Expansion$5.2 billion proposed

PossibilitiesHydroelectric conversion

Panamanian Control

$569.7 million

$6,500

9,278 employees

Fun Page!

Famous people born in the Panama Canal Zone include John McCain and Rod Carew

Each door of the locks weighs 750 tons

Most expensive toll: $226,194.25 for a cruise ship in 2003

Least expensive toll: $.36, for author/swimmer Richard Halliburton

Fastest trip through the canal: 2 hours 41 minutes