Panama Canal: The Biggest Megaproject in History

[Music] collecting over two billion dollars per year in revenue and considered a man-made wonder of the world the panama canal is a triumph of human engineering [Music] it was constructed in one of the most unforgiving environments imaginable crossing through 80 kilometers of dense tropical rainforest full of poisonous spiders insects and mosquitoes that carry deadly diseases more than 25 000 people lost their lives during the construction of the panama canal today 100 years after completion the canal provides a safe passage between the atlantic and pacific ocean but still remains at the center of a political dispute in today's video we're taking a look at the turbulent history of the canal and we fast forward to the future with the chinese government taking control before we continue make sure to like this video and subscribe to top luxury let us know in the comments below what you think about this mega project [Music] people have dreamt about building the canal ever since the early 16th century in that time a ship that traveled from east to the west coast of the american continent had to go around cape horn in south america a journey of fifteen thousand kilometers that takes almost two months to complete being the owner of a canal that circumvents this journey would be an economic and political gold mine every ship could be charged a toll then you would virtually control international freight on this side of the world as it turned out not only the benefits are overwhelming but also the construction the project was attempted by several countries and several countries had failed it almost caused a war between two countries and thousands of people died and we're about to do it again but we'll get to that later the story of the construction of the panama canal starts in the 16th century with an adventurous spanish explorer vasco nunez de balboa he was the first european to discover that panama was just a slim land bridge separating the world's two largest oceans he worked out how the canal could be constructed and proposed the idea to charles v the king of spain he ordered a survey to determine if the plans would be feasible but they quickly came to the conclusion that it was impossible to realize it took 300 years before the idea resurfaced this time in the mind of an ambitious frenchman the french had just completed the construction of another mega project that was deemed impossible the suez canal this canal connects the mediterranean sea to the red sea and the french had developed a taste the construction was supervised by a charismatic french diplomat ferdinand de lesseps duleceps got his hands on the initial design for the canal in panama and estimated that it would be easier than the suez it was only 40 percent of the length and they now had some experience the french government approved their plans and funded the entire mission in 1881 construction began in the meantime there was another world power seeking to build the canal the united states not in panama but a few hundred kilometers to the north in nicaragua their canal would run from burrito on the pacific side over lake nicaragua to blue fields on the atlantic side there were a few concerns especially about the consequences of ships going through lake nicaragua the most important source of fresh water in central america many scientists worried about the impact a canal would have on the lake and tried to persuade the united states to withdraw their plans the french took the lead but not for long their plan was to build a canal entirely at sea level just like they did in egypt but they ran into serious engineering problems the canal had to be deep enough for large vessels but canal slopes tend to cave in if dredged too steeply the solution was to build a canal that is 400 meters wide but that is a lot of excavation work for a canal that's 80 kilometers long there were other issues that the french had no solution for the atlantic and pacific ocean are at different heights due to tidal differences this would turn the canal into a raging torrent of unstoppable force besides all these technical challenges what really brought down the french was the hazardous environment the jungle is swarming with mosquitoes that carry deadly unknown diseases the workers were dying in flocks with symptoms of malaria and yellow fever three years after construction had started the death rate was over 200 per month the project was at a loss in 1894 the construction company declared bankruptcy 260 million dollars had already been spent which equals to a staggering seven billion dollars when adjusted for inflation you could build almost five burj khalifas for that amount the french made another futile attempt using different tactics but officially halted production in 1894 for the french this is the end of the story but their failure paved the way for another protagonist the united states they were getting nowhere in nicaragua and in 1902 congress authorized the purchase of the french assets the only minor challenge they had to overcome was the colombian government in that time panama was not an independent country but a province of colombia their government felt that they were getting a bad deal and they refused to ratify the agreement the united states however has a way of dealing with uncooperative governments in 1903 president theodore roosevelt sent a fleet of u.s warships to surround the colombian province they lavishly supported the panamanian independence movement and later that same year panama became an independent country the u.s made a deal with the newly installed government to guarantee their independence they provided a one-time payment of 10 million dollars and an annual stipend of 250 000 in return they would receive the unrestricted rights to build and monetize the canal the u.s designed a canal using a lock system devices used for raising and lowering ships between water at different levels this approach saved the united states a lot of excavation work and construction got into high gear 40 000 people worked on the canal every day the u.s workers were also pestered by tropical diseases but this time scientists understood better what the role of mosquitoes was as a carrier of disease they took several preventive measures but still 5 600 workers found their death under u.s supervision after decades of hard work thousands of human lives lost on august 15 1914 the canal was finally opened every vessel that transits through the canal now has to pay a toll this is based on the size of the ship and its cargo and it can nowadays run up to four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for one single passage on average there are nine thousand ships that make this passage every year business is booming and the money is rolling in the panama canal became a landmark project and the pride of u.s engineering it cost them a total of 375 million dollars to build close to 10 billion dollars when adjusted for inflation they paid an additional 40 million dollars to the french and 10 million dollars to the panamanian government it was the most expensive u.s construction project at the time the control over the canal was transferred to the panamanian people in 1999 under the administration of bill clinton the decision followed several decades of riots and protests against the involvement of the united states in their national politics the panama canal continues to be subjected to international criticism and concern some critics have voiced their concern about the dependence of the panamanian government and their stakeholders and how they are able to exert influence on international sea travel there's also growing concern in the west about the involvement of china the chinese company land bridge group signed a 900 million dollar deal to control the margarita island port panama's largest port situated at the canal's entrance to the atlantic ocean the land bridge group is a private company but they have close ties to the chinese communist party they have cooperated with the chinese military in the past and their board is largely made up of ex-government officials in addition the chinese have approved plans to build a new canal that would run through nicaragua as the u.s had attempted 130 years earlier a team of hotshot lawyers and businessmen from china have made a deal with the nicaraguan government to build their canal for a mesmerizing 40 billion dollars the plans have already been approved and financed and they're ready to go if you remember correctly the original plans for a canal in nicaragua were opposed by the scientists who were concerned about the consequences on the environment and these concerns still hold it seems likely that the panama canal will keep expanding to sustain our growing demand for consumer goods and on the stage of global politics what do you think about the panama canal let us know in the comments below if you enjoyed this video make sure to hit the like button 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Channel: Top Luxury

Views: 1,066,396

Keywords: panama canal, panama, canal, panama canal history, panama canal documentary, panama canal expansion, panama canal construction, how the panama canal works, Panama Canal transit, panama canal french, panama canal usa, panama canal americans, panama canal china, Ferdinand de Lesseps, suez canal, nicaragua canal, megaproject, panama megaproject, biggest mega projects in the world, largest mega projects in the world, top luxury, mega project, mega projects

Id: K_XIX8d_om8

Length: 10min 49sec (649 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 10 2020