Tour of the country,
by Romy Vasquez, Panama's ambassador to Canada (2 of 4)
Before Panama was Panama, it was New Grenada, a part of the country now called Colombia. The Republic of Panama, as a country unto itself, wasn't created until 1903. Yet in the beginning, as now, Panama was a unique place with a destiny inextricably shaped by the narrow isthmus that separates the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. The Isthmus of Panama is the narrowest part of the North American continent, making it, from earliest times, a place that has uniquely excited the imaginations of adventurous men - men of trade and science, men of politics and conquest.
As a consequence of its strategic location, Panama has become a hub for international trade and commerce. The Panama Railroad, an American company with rights to transit across the isthmus, was operating after 1855, a sign of civilization for many expeditions, running north to south, starting at Colon on Limon Bay and finishing at Panama City on the Bay of Panama. Labourers were brought in by boat from many parts of the world: Ireland, China, the West Indies, Germany and the United States.
Having a monopoly on Panamanian transit, the railroad produced important information for the largest and most important project of the Americas at that time, the construction of the Panama Canal. Panama was infamously known as a pesthole, a death trap; however, the cost in human lives was never accurately known since the company kept systematic records only of its white workers.
Nonetheless, there is plenty of evidence of the problems. In 1852, cholera swept across the isthmus with the arrival of a steamer boat from New Orleans and the world panicked - as it would today under comparable conditions. Physicians arrived from many countries to study the causes of the epidemics and some became deeply entrenched in the history of the country. Yet the Panama Railroad and its clients remained in operation, collecting important information about the mountains' elevation above sea level and the tides of the oceans, information essential to the eventual construction of the Panama Canal.
Within the Central American region, the vision of a canal for transportation and trade was considered between 1870 and 1900, and there were four potential locations: Panama, Nicaragua, Darien and Tehuantepec. There was intense competition between Panama and the other contenders for the Californian gold trade. The actual overland crossing was shorter and faster at Panama but Nicaragua was closer to the United States and was considered, over all, less costly.
Two of the most celebrated events of the century were occurring simultaneously - the opening of the Suez Canal and the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad. The world was becoming smaller; the two sides were greeting one another. In his extraordinary book, The Path Between the Seas, David McCullough writes: "The feeling was that the revealed powers of science . had brought mankind to a threshold. Men talked confidently of future systems of transport that would bring all peoples into contact with one another, spread knowledge, break down national divisions, and make a unified whole of humanity."
Globalization created a decisive role for the Panama Canal, la raison d'être du Panama. Today, the role is the same as it was when first imagined - to open up global possibilities for trade. Did the Republic of Panama decide to become the site of a great masterpiece of human engineering?
Or did this canal, with a mind of its own, pick Panama as its flag and pro mundi beneficio as Panama's emblem has read since its creation?
More than a question, this is a deliberation that comes to mind when you realize that Panama was born globalized, that Panama was blessed with a location that has made it "the centre of the world," a great logistic platform that serves more than 120 maritime routes of 80 countries around the world. Was this the motivation in the mind of French developer Ferdinand de Lesseps when he decided to conquer the New World, after his success with the construction of the Suez Canal?
The story of de Lesseps deserves a book of its own. It is useful to know that he was more of a diplomat than a man of science. Indeed, he never pursued engineering studies. He nevertheless became the entrepeneur extraordinaire, with all the requisite traits for the role: nerve, persistence, dynamism, energy, a talent for public relations, a capacity for deception and imagination. An international congress was organized in Paris under. De Lesseps's leadership, in May 1879, with stakeholders from all countries involved, including those from Central American nations, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States, and the decision was taken to pursue the construction of a canal in Panama. The sale of stock in the company turned out to be one of the most astonishing events in financial history. De Lesseps arrived in Panama at the end of 1879 and by the summer of 1881, there were 200 French and European technicians and clerical help on the isthmus, and some 800 labourers at work, building barracks and hospitals, and assembling and testing newly arrived equipment.
Panama welcomed Ferdinand de Lesseps's joie de vivre and he certainly left the impression that he was having a great time; after some months going over the ground, he declared that the work was going to be easier than at Suez. He wrote to Charles, his son, "Now that I have gone over the various localities in the isthmus with our engineers, I cannot understand why they hesitated so long in declaring that it would be practicable to build a maritime canal between two oceans at sea level, for the distance is as short as between Paris and Fontainebleau."
Indeed, the distance was shorter - yet this was the only advantage over Suez. Everything else was substantially more complicated. At Suez, the digging was through sand, in a hot but dry climate. In Panama, eight months of the year were hot but with a humidity of 98 per cent, in the middle of the jungle with a rainfall measured in feet, not in inches as in Suez, and where there was sometimes not enough water to sustain the labour force.