(clock ticking) - There's this one lake
in Central America that, if you look closely enough, you're gonna see the tops
of trees in the lake. And these, these are not islands. These are hilltops. This all used to be a
dense jungle, not a lake. But then they built dams and
all sorts of infrastructure to flood this forest, all
in the name of solving a centuries-old puzzle, which was, "How do we make it faster and easier "to travel between here and here, "even in spite of the fact "that you have two massive continents "blocking any waterway?" But there was hope, if you look down here at this
one thin stretch of land. Here it's only 80 kilometers across, and it looked so easy to
just cut a waterway into it. No. Turns out, that puzzle was not easy. (suspenseful music) This little 80 kilometer strip of land proved to be really hard to cut through, but as long as international
trade continued to grow, there continued to be great
powers looking for new waterways to shorten their routes and
to increase their power, for whoever controls
the water has the power. And these great powers always focused on this narrow stretch of land, from the Spanish in the 14th century to the Scottish in the 15th. But then, the most earnest and
serious attempt was in 1880, when this guy, a French
engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps, shows up and is like, "Hey, I got this." He had just completed another big world-changing
canal over here. He was feeling very
confident, and he's like, "Yup, I'm your guy. "Let's build another canal. "It'll be easy. "We'll just dig down to sea
level and re-route the river, "like we did in Egypt with the Suez Canal "and it'll be great and I'll be famous." But listen, de Lesseps,
Egypt is a flat desert and Panama is not. These mountains that you wanna dig through are well above sea level. So if you wanna dig down to
sea level to make a flat canal, it's not gonna be easy. Meanwhile, another French
engineer comes to de Lesseps and he's like, "Dude,
this isn't gonna work. "It's way too much digging. "Instead of bringing the
mountains down to sea level, "what you need to do is bring
the sea up to the mountains." And in a moment of
collaborative creativity, de Lesseps admits that he was wrong and begins construction
based on the new plans, and then he promotes this guy
as the head of engineering and says, "Great idea." No, de Lesseps was like, "Bring the ocean up to the mountains? "That sounds stupid. "Screw you. "I'm the famous one. "The canal is going to be at sea level, "just like we did with the Suez Canal." So the French start digging. Well, actually it wasn't the French. It was a ton of poorly
paid migrant workers who were doing the digging, hacking away at the jungle with machetes and then digging by hand with
pickaxes in sweltering heat, knee deep in sitting water, which is heaven for, you guessed it, disease infested mosquitoes,
which is terrible news. But luckily, de Lesseps the engineer was always there in the
trenches with his workers, wielding a pickax alongside his people. Yeah, no, of course he wasn't. He was just hanging out in France, only visiting Panama twice
over the course of seven years to just check in on the project. And what he realized when he showed up seven years into this digging is that things were going horribly. People were dying, 40 or 50 a day. All in all, 20 thousand workers died trying to dig this canal. Thousands died from disease and accidents, and we will never know their names. And it's not just that people are dying, it's that the digging
isn't working either. They would do a bunch of digging one day, and then the next day,
the rain would bring in all of the mud that they
just dug back into the canal. So de Lesseps shows up,
realizes this is happening and is like, "This is not working. "Is there another way to dig this canal?" And then he has a flashback
to seven years earlier. "Bring the sea up to the mountains." And he's like, "Oh yeah, that was actually
a really good idea. "My bad, we actually are gonna
do that other plan instead." But no, it was too late. The investors were done. They had lost way too much money. 20 thousand people were dead, malaria and yellow fever were rampant. This was a fatal project. So the company that owned all of this work had to abandon it and leave
it unfinished in 1889. Everyone gave up and left, except for one of the top
engineers on the project, this guy. I'm just gonna call him Philippe, 'cause after researching
him for many days, I now feel like I'm on a
first name basis with him. And by the way, he becomes
a giant part of the story, starting now. So Philippe was this French
engineer and businessman, and he was obsessed with the canal. He also had a huge financial
stake in the project, and where some investors would say, "Darn, too bad, we invested
in a bad bet, let's move on." Philippe was like, "No, I
will do whatever it takes "to make sure that this is not a failure." And what happens next is one
of the most insane things I have ever researched in my
entire life, so buckle up. (intriguing music) - [Newscaster] The winds of
change is blowing up a gale in the Panama Canal zone. - Okay, so let's get some
context really quick. It's 1900 at this point. The US is really starting to get a handle on this whole Imperialism
thing that they've been doing. They just fabricated a war with Spain, which led them to conquer the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico. They'd just overthrown
Hawaii's government. They annexed Wake Island
and American Samoa. They're like, "Dude, this
overseas empire thing "is kinda working out for us." The President at the
time was Teddy Roosevelt, who we've seen in previous episodes, and Teddy is looking around this region that the US is increasingly taking over, and he sees an opportunity
to dramatically increase the naval power of the United States, if they could just unite the
Atlantic and the Pacific. "It's time to build a canal", says Teddy. So of course they looked
somewhere in Central America, and the original plan that
the US wanted to pursue was to build a canal not in Panama, but here in Nicaragua. It wasn't the shortest
stretch of land in this area, but there was a huge lake here, which would cut down on the digging, and it just made a lot of sense. So they started doing
surveys and making plans to build a canal in Nicaragua. Meanwhile, Philippe the
Frenchman is still down here at his failed project, and he's seen the US become
interested in the canal, and he's like, "This is
my moment of vindication." So he goes to the US
Congress and he's like, "Hey guys, I know you're
looking at Nicaragua, "you've been doing all this site planning "and surveys and stuff, but guess what? "Right next to this proposed
site for your canal, "there are volcanoes. "Big, scary, belching volcanoes. "And one of them just erupted around here, "sort of next to your site." Nicaragua even had a
postage stamp that featured one of these nearby volcanoes erupting. So the Frenchman goes
around to the US Senators and distributes this
postage stamp and says, "Look, scary volcanoes in Nicaragua. "Don't build your canal here "or they'll be destroyed
by lava or something." And guess what? It totally worked. The US Senate got cold feet
about their Nicaragua canal plan and they're like, "Uh, we're
not gonna do this anymore. "Let's find another place to build it." And Philippe is like, "Oh my gosh, I can't
believe that just worked. "Stamps with volcanoes?" He's all giddy, and he's like, "Hmm, I wonder where there
would be a good place "to build a canal. "Oh, wait a minute, why not Panama? "We the French already did a
ton of work to get you started. "Why don't you just pick
up where we left off? "We'll sell you all of our
gear, all of our stuff. "It'll be a great deal." And the US is like, "But isn't
Panama a part of Colombia?" And yes indeed, at the time, Panama was actually a part of Colombia. It was not an independent country. So the United States Congress is like, "Okay, listen Philippe. "We will buy you out of your canal project "that you clearly failed on, "but we will only do it
if we can get approval "from Colombia, who
literally owns this land." And Philippe is secretly like, "Uh, there's no way that
Colombia is going to go for this. "They're gonna reject the plan "and then the US is gonna back out "and I'm gonna lose all my money "and I have to make this happen." Philippe was very
serious about this canal. So this is where Philippe
starts to get really conniving to pull out all the stops
to get the canal built. So he goes to the people who live in the region of Colombia
called Panama, and he says, "Hey guys, I know you've
sorta been wanting "to be independent from
Colombia for a long time. "Bogota is so far away,
they don't care about you. "You could be your own country. "What if I, a French
engineer, could guarantee "your independence without a bloody war? "Just leave the details to me. "Make me your ambassador and
I will make this happen." And the Panamanians are like,
"But dude, you're French." And he's like, "Yeah yeah
yeah, but you're Colombian, "so why don't we team up in
the name of creating Panama, "a new country?" And they were like, "Okay fine, Philippe. "You're our representative,
our ambassador now. "Just give us the signal "when we should rise up
for our independence, "but you promise to make sure "that Colombia's not gonna come
in and quell our uprising." And Philippe's like, "Yeah yeah
yeah, I'll take care of it." Okay, before we keep
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for sponsoring this video, for supporting my work and my channel. That link will be in my description. Now let's get back to the Panama Canal. So Philippe is now the
ambassador of the Panamanians, who are not a country yet, but he's still hoping
that maybe the Colombians will approve the plan. Philippe sort of has
this in his back pocket, this deal that he just
made with the Panamanians. He doesn't know if he has to use it yet. But back to the Americans having to ask Colombia for
approval to build their canal. Sure enough, they show
up and Colombia's like, "No, go home. "You guys are way too
aggressive around here lately. "We're not interested. "No canal, see you later." So the US goes to Philippe and they say, "Sorry bro, the deal is off. "Colombia said no. "We said we'd only do
this if Colombia said yes. "After all, Panama is a part of Colombia." And Philippe is like, "Wait, hold on. "I have a plan for this. "I've been talking to the Panamanians "and they want to break
away from Colombia, "and they made me their ambassador. "I've even written them a new Constitution "and designed them a new flag." Wait, Philippe, are
you a graphic designer? "No, but I designed them a flag anyway. "We can still make this
canal thing happen. "All I need you guys to do
is show up with your navy "to make sure that the Panamanians "can rise up for independence "without Colombia coming
to shut it all down." And the US Congress is like, "Dude, you're nuts, see you later." But out of nowhere, the
President at the time shows up and is like, "Did somebody say
stage a theatrical revolution "to take over more land and
increase American power?" Teddy was back on the scene. Teddy loves this kind of stuff. He loves the sort of backroom deals, "Let's not ask for permission,
let's ask for forgiveness." This is Teddy Roosevelt's sweet spot. So Philippe has all of his ducks in a row. He's got Teddy Roosevelt on his side, he has Panamanians who
just gave him approval to be their ambassador, and he's like, "Let's do this." So in November 1903,
Philippe gives the nod to the Panamanians to rise up, to take over and declare
themselves independent. And at the same time, he
signals to Teddy Roosevelt to send in their big gun boats to sit off the coast of Panama to block Colombia from
sending in reinforcements to put down this revolution
by the Panamanians. And so Colombia is
like, "Oh fine, take it. "F you, America. "You guys played real dirty there, okay? "You know that? "That was not cool." So just as Philippe orchestrated, Panama declares independence, and Philippe is the ambassador. The US is the first to
recognize them as a new country, and Teddy Roosevelt's
like, "That was thrilling! "Now what, Philippe?" So Philippe is like, "Let's
make a deal, America. "I'm the official
representative of Panama now, "as per my agreement with the Panamanians, "so let's write a treaty
on behalf of Panama." So he travels to the United States and starts working on a treaty between the United States and Panama that would give the USA
the rights and sovereignty over this strip of land to build a canal. I mean, this series of events is insane. France fails to build a canal, so one French dude, an engineer, tries to redeem the whole thing by convincing the US to change
the location of their canal, and then creates a revolution and convinces the US to
help back that revolution, so that he, a Frenchman,
can be the ambassador of the newly created country of Panama, and make a deal with the US. Whoa, Philippe. He was the one man band lobbyist who somehow finagled this whole situation. So Philippe and the Secretary
of State of the United States draw up this treaty that
gives the US total control over this strip of land for
them to build their canal. No Panamanians were in the room when they drafted this treaty. They gave no approval of this. This treaty was between the US and Panama, but really it was between the US and Philippe the French engineer. So now the US military shows up to Panama to claim this land that
they now see as theirs, and the Panamanians are like, "Dude, WTF, what are you doing here?" And the US is like, "Oh,
you signed a treaty with us "giving us all this land." And Panama's like, "No we didn't." And then they're like,
"Oh wait, light bulb. "Philippe! "That's why he wanted
to be our ambassador! "I get it. "Man, we got played by Philippe." And they totally did. So now the US is setting up shop in Panama to start digging their canal. (film strip rolling) The US picked up right
where the French left off, using effectively the same
route that the French had dug during their seven years of misery. And speaking of misery,
the US was able to learn from the French's mistakes. They started using railways
to truck out all the dirt, so that the mud wouldn't
slide back into the canal, and they learned how to
drain the puddles of water so that it wasn't a haven for
disease infected mosquitoes. And most importantly, they
didn't try the crackpot idea of trying to dig a canal all
the way down to sea level. They went with the much better idea of digging the canal up high,
26 meters above sea level, and using clever engineering
to get ships up to that level. "Like I said", said that
one French engineer, and de Lesseps was like, "No one asked you, get out of here." So after 10 years of construction and a visit by Teddy Roosevelt, who staged this amazing photo shoot of him wearing a Panamanian hat, sitting on one of the machines, all to boost morale to
get this project done, after all of that, the
US completed this dream of slicing a water route through this 80 kilometer stretch of land. Philippe, at this point,
is back in France, probably exhausted from
all of his scheming, but ultimately very pleased
that he was able to pull it off. So the canal is done,
and here's how it works. (water rushing) Remember that the land looks like this. You have the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans here at sea level, and then the interior of the land being about 26 meters above sea level. So first, they built a dam on this river to create this giant lake, so that they have loads
of water to work with. That's why we see those trees
sticking up from the water, or why these hilltops turned into islands. Then they built these brilliant
inventions called locks. The boat enters here at sea level. They enter into this chamber
where there is a gate that is holding the water
from the high up lake back. It's locked. But once the boat is in
this holding chamber, they let the water from
higher up come down, making the boat flow up. It takes about eight minutes
for the boat to rise. Then they move into the next chamber, where they do this again and again, until by the end of it,
the boat has been lifted up 26 meters above sea level. They then traverse the rest of this canal, going through the artificial
lake and snaking through until they get to the other side, where now they need to
get down to sea level. And they go through the same
process, but in reverse. They finally make it down to sea level and they can exit onto
now a different ocean than when they started. It's honestly an engineering marvel, and it reshaped the
global economic landscape, making it easier and safer
to move goods and people around the world. And yeah, the US was very
serious about controlling this little strip of land, this choke point that they had built. If you look at a map from
the early or mid 1900s, you're gonna see that
the Panama Canal zone was always marked as a
sovereign part of the US. Controlling a choke point like this gives you strong strategic
advantage, and the US knew that. But the world would finally
decide that big powers shouldn't actually be able to swoop in and take over whatever land they want. - [Newscaster] The wind of
change is blowing up a gale in the Panama Canal zone, and citizens have to defend themselves as students and other
rioters demanded the names of the 61 year old Canal Zone
Treaty with the United States. - And the Panamanians in the
1960s finally had enough, and they're like, "Yeah,
this land is actually ours." So in the 60s and 70s, the
Panamanians rose up in protest against this US occupation of the canal, and through a series of treaties,
they finally got it back. Officially on the last
day of the millennium, December 31, 1999, they
signed the last treaty that returned sovereignty to Panama. And then Jimmy Carter
gave a speech in Spanish. (Jimmy Carter speaking Spanish) I mean, he, he tried really
hard, and I guess that matters. So today, the Panama Canal
belongs to Panamanians. It still uses the innovative
technology from 100 years ago that allows this canal to be built 26 meters above sea level. But for all of the engineering innovation that's present here, to me, the more incredible
part of this story is how this one Frenchman
orchestrated all of this. He played all the geopolitical forces at the time just right. He used Panamanians'
thirst for independence and the Americans' thirst for
imperialism and ocean power, all to make his dream
of this canal happen. Oh, and to secure his financial
return on the project. What a wild story. Thanks for watching. (light music)
