The Panama Canal

is a satellite and oceanic navigation between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean through the isthmus of Panama in its most narrow point. It opened on 15 August 1914 Since then shortened over time and distance maritime communication. Help in the commercial and economic exchange, decisively influencing the patterns of world trade. Drives economic growth in both developed countries and developing further provides economic expansion in many remote regions.

First Routes

Historically, the Isthmus of Panama and was used by Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans in the fifteenth century to the displacement between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.                          

Spanish Stage

In November 1515, Captain Antonio Tello de Guzmán discovered a road that crossed the isthmus from Panama to the Gulf of Panama, near the abandoned city of God's name. This route had been used by natives for centuries and was viable. Was improved and paved by the Spaniards and became El Camino Real. It was used to transport the gold to Portobelo and from there take it to Spain. A few more evenings years, in 1550, Antonio Galvao, thought the only way to create quick access to the South Seas would be an artificial way and that the only possible locations would be: Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, Panama or Darien. The project would not take over.

Scottish Expedition

The Darien project was another attempt to establish a route between the oceans. In July 1698, five ships departed from Leith (Scotland) in order to establish a colony in Darien and build a route for trade with China and Japan. Settlers arrived in November and called Darien Calidonia. But the expedition was ill-prepared for the harsh conditions found there suffered local diseases and poor organization. Settlers abandoned.

XIX and XX Century

The idea of ​​the Canal remained suspended for a time not to reappear until the early nineteenth century, after the trip of the Prussian naturalist Baron Alexander von Humboldt, who prepared a draft of digging of the isthmus between the Chagres and Panama. The engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps presented 10 years later, the excavation project of the Panama Canal. Until the end of the century, technological advances and commercial pressures were such that the construction of a canal became a viable protest. A first attempt by France failed, but managed a first excavation. After this failure the Hay-Herran Treaty was signed between the Colombian and American government in order to build a transoceanic canal through Panama in those years was part of Colombia. However, the treaty was rejected by the Colombian Senate. President Theodore Roosevelt and Panamanian elite to build a Panama Canal, formalized the signing of the Hay-Bunau Varilla, which enabled the construction of the canal with its opening on August 15, 1914.

Present Day

The Canal is operating in Panamanian hands in the middle of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties signed on September 7, 1977, in Washington, by the President of the United States Jimmy Carter and Panamanian General Omar Torrijos Herrera, which ended with the term "perpetuity" of the old Hay-Bunau Varilla treaty which entered into force on 31 December 1999, at 12:00 pm. Program Panama Canal Expansion After extensive study and analysis, Panama made ​​the decision to expand this route by adding a third lane of traffic to double its capacity. The Panama Canal Expansion involves the construction of two lock three levels each with three water saving basins per level, one on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic side this program also carries the widening and deepening causes of existing navigation of Lake Gatun and entries Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic, as well as the deepening of Culebra Cut.

The third set of locks is a huge project to expand the Panama Canal. This extension will be the largest since the construction of the canal. The Panama Canal Authority proposed the project after years of study. Panamanian President Martín Torrijos presented the plan on April 24, 2006 and Panamanian citizens approved it in a national referendum on 22 October 2006 by 76.8% of the vote. The project plans to double the canal's capacity and allow more traffic.

Panama Canal Expansion

The project will create a new car traffic along the Canal by constructing a new set of locks. Details of the project include the following components: 

-Construction Two new lock complexes, one on the Atlantic side and another on the Pacific, each with three cameras, and additional water recycling tubs;

-Excavation Of new access channels to the new locks and widening of existing navigational channels;

Open Navigation channels and elevation of the water level of Gatun Lake operation.

After six years of study and approved by a national referendum in October 2006, the expansion work began on September 3, 2007. The project consists of two new sets of locks that will add a third lane to allow the transit of vessels with higher freight volumes, doubling the capacity of the waterway to meet growing demand in world trade and strengthening the role of Panama as a center logistics and                                                     transport in the region.

                 100 years of operation

            They are 100 years Open to innovation,diversity,

                sustainability, health and connectivity Gate!