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Panama: Another Major Sea Gate Relinquished
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 one encounters en route from the British Isles to the Far East. These gates gave Great Britain mastery of the seas for more than two centuries. These vital passages played an important part in times of military conflict and economic expansion. Without them it is questionable whether the Allies could have won the two world wars.
Travelers west encountered Bermuda, one of the first sea gates to be acquired by the British crown, the first with its own parliament. Bermuda remains a British possession. Further west were Britain's island properties in the Caribbean. Further south the Falkland Islands enabled the Royal Navy to control the area around Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America. St. Helena, Ascension Island, the Cape of Good Hope around South Africa, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Diego Garcia were all strategically located portals that controlled key ocean passages around the globe, granting the British people unrivaled dominance of the seas.
America becomes an international power
Later, after the Spanish-American War of 1898, America joined Great Britain as a world power. With the peace settlement that followed the war, the United States became 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 events were yet to come.
The Spanish-American War brought home to Americans a major strategic weakness. The weakness was attributable to simple geography: It took a long time for a ship on one of the country's coasts to travel to the other coast. 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 danger had not been a problem, distance alone meant that any sea travel from coast to coast took months.
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