Ships Can Transit Between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans Using the __________ Canal.

Panama Canal - Waterway betwixt the Atlantic and the Pacific

The Panama Culvert is a waterway that connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. Before the canal was opened in 1914 ships had to travel around the southern tip of South America to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The Panama Culvert shortens the journey by about 11000 km.

The Panama Canal is 82 km long. Ships travel through the waterway through a organization of locks. Panama is a hilly country and it was not possible to build a body of water-level canal. Instead ships must laissez passer through chambers that are filled with water. They raise and lower ships from one level of the canal to another. Each of the locks is nigh 300 meters long. Ships cannot travel through the locks past themselves. They are connected to cables and pulled by trains that move alongside the canal. At that place is always a pair of locks so that ships can travel in both directions. When a ship enters the canal a special canal pilot comes on board and guides the ship through the canal safely. It takes a send about 8 to 10 hours to travel through the Panama Canal.

Diagram of the Panama Canal - User:Johantheghost (JPEG version by Wikid77)

History of the Panama Canal

People accept dreamed of connecting the 2 oceans for a long time. In the 1880s Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French engineer who had congenital the Suez Culvert a few years before, attempted to build a canal through Panama past digging straight through the hills but the project failed.

In 1903 Panama became an independent country and allowed the U.s. to build a culvert on its territory. The two countries signed a treaty which non only gave the Americans the right to control the culvert merely also gave them land on which the culvert was built. The Americans decided to build a canal that depended on locks because they thought it would exist cheaper and easier to build. Information technology took nigh 10 years to build the Panama Canal and up to 40,000 men worked on the project.

Even though diseases similar yellow fever and malaria could already be cured at that time, k s of workers died in the jungle of Panama. In 1914 construction ended and the canal was officially opened.

The Canal Zone became a kind of American colony and led to many problems between America and Panama in the 20th century. Many citizens of Panama did non want the Americans in their land. In 1977 the U.s.a. and Panama signed a new agreement and on December 31, 1999 the USA handed the Culvert Zone over to the Panamanian government. Today, Panama operates the canal but the United States still has the correct to defend it in times of war.

The Panama Canal is very of import for the world's economy. About 12,000 ships and 200 million tons of goods pass through the canal every yr. However, the canal has go also small and big freighters and supertankers cannot travel through it. Panama and the United States are planning to make the culvert bigger and then that larger ships tin pass through.

The Gatun locks - Stan Shebs

Downloadable PDF Text- and Worksheets

• Text and Worksheets available at our store

Related Topics

• New Panama Canal Opens

Words

• agreement = when two people or countries have the same opinion on something
• alongside = adjacent to
• attempt = try
• century = a hundred years
• chamber = here: area of the canal that is closed by gates
• citizen = a person who lives in a country and has rights there
• connect = link
• construction = the building of
• cure = treat, become healthy
• defend = guard, protect
• depend on = need
• dig = to move globe
• disease = illness
• economic system = the buying and selling of products in the world
• engineer = a person who plans, designs and builds roads, buildings etc...
• freighter = a ship that carries appurtenances
• appurtenances =products
• government = people who rule a country
• guide = to assistance a boat through the canal
• independent = gratuitous
• instead = in its place
• journey = trip
• locks = parts of a canal that are closed off by gates. When water is let into the lock the ships motion upwardly, when water is allow out ships motion down
• operate = manage , command
• raise = elevator, to move up
• body of water-level canal = culvert without locks; the Suez Canal is a sea-level culvert
• shorten = to make shorter
• sign = to put your proper noun on a document
• tip = stop
• treaty = a written piece of paper betwixt two people or countries
• waterway = a river or a canal that boats or ships travel on

harleymoughtly.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.english-online.at/travel/panama-canal/panama-canal-waterway.htm

Share this post