Negociacione Panama Canal
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Publicado: 9 de octubre de 2011
The Panama Canal Negotiations
The completion of the Panama Canal is one of the world’s great engineering feats. The negotiations to complete and build this vital connector between two oceans spansdecades. The cost in human lives, suffering, and capital staggers the imagination. It all began in 1847 when the United States entered in a treaty with New Granada (later to be know as Colombia), andwhich allowed the U.S. a transit passage over the Isthmus of Panama. The treaty guaranteed Panama’s neutrality and recognized that Colombia would have sovereignty over the region.
Nothing reallyoccurred with this development and ultimately, a French company called the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama acquired the contract to build the canal in 1881. By 1889, the Compagnie had gonebankrupt and had lost roughly around $287 million U.S. along with approximately 20,000 lives in the process. It is also in 1889 that the U.S. has become convinced that the canal passage was absolutely vitalto their interests. They appointed Rear Admiral John Walker to head the Commission and to choose the most viable route.
Naturally, the U.S. was interested in the Panama route already started bythe French. The French company which had been heading for bankruptcy, and seeing the writing on the wall before their bankruptcy in 1889, had entered into negotiations with the U.S. The French companywas eager to extricate themselves from the project. At the time, their holdings were extensive and included land, the Panama Railroad, 2,000 buildings, and an extensive amount of equipment. They felttheir total holdings should be valued around 109 million U.S., but Rear Admiral Walker estimated them to be not greater than about 40 million U.S., a significant difference.
As negotiationsprogressed, the Americans began to hint that they were also interested in the possibility of building an alternative canal in Nicaragua. The French countered with the ploy by claiming that both Great...
The completion of the Panama Canal is one of the world’s great engineering feats. The negotiations to complete and build this vital connector between two oceans spansdecades. The cost in human lives, suffering, and capital staggers the imagination. It all began in 1847 when the United States entered in a treaty with New Granada (later to be know as Colombia), andwhich allowed the U.S. a transit passage over the Isthmus of Panama. The treaty guaranteed Panama’s neutrality and recognized that Colombia would have sovereignty over the region.
Nothing reallyoccurred with this development and ultimately, a French company called the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama acquired the contract to build the canal in 1881. By 1889, the Compagnie had gonebankrupt and had lost roughly around $287 million U.S. along with approximately 20,000 lives in the process. It is also in 1889 that the U.S. has become convinced that the canal passage was absolutely vitalto their interests. They appointed Rear Admiral John Walker to head the Commission and to choose the most viable route.
Naturally, the U.S. was interested in the Panama route already started bythe French. The French company which had been heading for bankruptcy, and seeing the writing on the wall before their bankruptcy in 1889, had entered into negotiations with the U.S. The French companywas eager to extricate themselves from the project. At the time, their holdings were extensive and included land, the Panama Railroad, 2,000 buildings, and an extensive amount of equipment. They felttheir total holdings should be valued around 109 million U.S., but Rear Admiral Walker estimated them to be not greater than about 40 million U.S., a significant difference.
As negotiationsprogressed, the Americans began to hint that they were also interested in the possibility of building an alternative canal in Nicaragua. The French countered with the ploy by claiming that both Great...
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