Panama Canal: Challenge of Connecting Two Oceans of Different Levels

Written by Sydney Tremayne


Many would be surprised to know thatrepparttar Panama Canal runs north to south to linkrepparttar 136924 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, not east to west.

By shorteningrepparttar 136925 route and reducingrepparttar 136926 cost of transportation betweenrepparttar 136927 two oceans,repparttar 136928 Panama Canal allows for lower-cost imported goods and commodities in many part ofrepparttar 136929 world. (It saves almost 8,000 miles on a trip from New York to San Francisco.) By eliminating forrepparttar 136930 majority of shippingrepparttar 136931 treacherous route aroundrepparttar 136932 tip of Argentina, it has no doubt saved countless lives and millions of dollars in lost vessels. However, it is estimated to have cost some 30,000 lives inrepparttar 136933 two attempts – French and American – to build it between 1880 and 1914.

Reducingrepparttar 136934 distance betweenrepparttar 136935 two oceans provides Panama with a major share of its gross domestic product. Some 13,500 ships transitrepparttar 136936 canal each year, almost 40 a day.

Not commonly known isrepparttar 136937 fact thatrepparttar 136938 two oceans have different sea levels, and different levels of high tide. Atrepparttar 136939 entrance torepparttar 136940 Panama Canal,repparttar 136941 Pacific Ocean can rise as much as 20 feet, but 45 miles away,repparttar 136942 difference between high tide and low inrepparttar 136943 Atlantic is just three feet.

The longest part ofrepparttar 136944 canal, sandwiched between gigantic sets of locks at either end, is manmade Gatun Lake andrepparttar 136945 Gaillard Cut. Gaillard Cut actually rips through a low point inrepparttar 136946 mountain chain that runs allrepparttar 136947 way from Alaska torepparttar 136948 tip of Argentina.

The Panama Canal has six locks, three near either end. Fromrepparttar 136949 Pacific Ocean, near Panama City,repparttar 136950 Miraflores Locks' two chambers each raise vessels 27 feet. A short distance away,repparttar 136951 Pedro Miguel Lock lifts shipping a further 31 feet. Most ofrepparttar 136952 passage throughrepparttar 136953 canal is at 85 feet above sea level.

The Gaillard Cut is followed byrepparttar 136954 town of Gamboa, whererepparttar 136955 Chagres River entersrepparttar 136956 canal. Withoutrepparttar 136957 Chagres andrepparttar 136958 immense amount of water that flows from it, there could be no Panama Canal.

The three steps ofrepparttar 136959 Gatun Locks each lower ships about 28 feet, torepparttar 136960 level ofrepparttar 136961 Atlantic Ocean.

The locks are gravity fed fromrepparttar 136962 Chagres and Gatun Lake. No pumps are needed. Water pours through a huge culvert inrepparttar 136963 center wall of each lock, a culvert so massive that a locomotive could pass through it. Other large culverts pass throughrepparttar 136964 side walls. Water fills or empties through vents alongrepparttar 136965 bottom ofrepparttar 136966 locks, 26 million gallons in just eight minutes.

Panama: Much More Than Palm Trees Swaying in the Tropical Breeze

Written by Sydney Tremayne


Panama. Warm, tropical, palm trees silhouetted againstrepparttar golden sky of a setting sun. Yes, it is all those romantic things. But it is so much more.

Its capital isrepparttar 136923 most modern city south ofrepparttar 136924 U.S. If this isrepparttar 136925 third world, I missedrepparttar 136926 first somewhere in my travels. Panama City is a world-leading financial center with some 120 banks, many with competing glass and steel monuments to commerce.

Panama is shopping, U.S. style. Many ofrepparttar 136927 stores found on Main Street, U.S.A., are here too. After all,repparttar 136928 Panama Canal was run by Americans for almost 100 years, andrepparttar 136929 American military had a major presence here until 1999.

Panama once had a reputation as part ofrepparttar 136930 pipeline for Colombian drugs. It suffered underrepparttar 136931 savage dictatorship of Manuel Noriega, until he was captured and imprisoned by American troops in December, 1989. The country has had a peaceful democracy ever since. Like Costa Rica, it has no military. Money is spent on education instead, and its people have a high level of literacy. And if you need medical attention here, your doctor is likely to have been trained inrepparttar 136932 U.S. or Europe.

Panama is silver sand onrepparttar 136933 Caribbean side and black volcanic sand onrepparttar 136934 Pacific side. It hasrepparttar 136935 second-largest volcanic crater inrepparttar 136936 world inside which nestles a popular tourist and retirement town. (The largest isrepparttar 136937 Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.) It is dessert and mountaintop. It can be humid all year, or like spring for all 12 months, depending on where you are in this small country.

Panama is world-class hotels and resorts,repparttar 136938 best roads in Central America by far (many were built by Americans). And Brinks givesrepparttar 136939 country a top rating for personal safety.

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