The Panama Canal is an engineering marvel and a symbol of "The American Century." What is the significance of America's decision to turn it over to Panamanian control?
by Melvin Rhodes
Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Suez, Aden,
the Maldive Islands, Ceylon, Singapore and Hong Kong are legendary sea
gates en route from the British Isles to the Far East. These gates gave
Great Britain mastery of the seas for over two centuries, a period that
came to be known as the "Pax Britannica." They played a vital role in
times of military conflict. Without them it is doubtful the Allies would
have won the two world wars.
For those who traveled west there was Bermuda,
one of the first sea gates to be acquired by the British Crown, the
first with its own parliament and still a British possession. Further
west there were all the island possessions of the Caribbean. Further
south the Falkland Islands enabled the Royal Navy to control the area
around Cape Horn. St. Helena, Ascension Island, the Cape of Good Hope
around South Africa, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Diego Garcia were
all strategically located "gates" that controlled key sea passages
around the globe, granting the British people unrivaled dominance of
the seas.
Later the United States was to join Great
Britain as a world power following the Spanish-American War of 1898.
The peace settlement that followed the war saw the United States become
a major sea power with the acquisition of its own sea gates in important
locations. The Philippines and Guam gave America a major Pacific presence,
while Puerto Rico and a military base in Cuba extended American influence
in the Caribbean. Hawaii was also annexed in 1898. But the most important
was yet to come.
The Spanish-American War had brought home
to Americans a weakness that had been noticed before, one which could
easily be resolved with the modern technology that was now available.
The weakness was due to simple geography, the fact that it took a long
time for a ship on one of the country's coasts to travel to the other
coast. All ships had to go around Cape Horn at the southern end of
South America, one of the most hazardous shipping routes on earth.
Even if that had not been a problem, distance alone meant that any
sea travel from coast to coast took a considerable period of time.
