Coventina's History Thread: Panama Canal - Attempt Number One

***please see my previous thread on the Suez Canal***

When it came time to build the next great canal half a world away in Panama, everyone turned to de Lesseps to dig it.

But here de Lesseps was in over his head. Suez was a walk in the park compared to Panama. In the Suez, flat land at sea level had allowed de Lesseps to build a lockless channel. A canal in Panama, however, would have to slice through the multiple elevations of the Continental Divide.

In 1880, de Lesseps began a nine-year effort to dig a sea-level canal through the mountains. This strategy, combined with financial mismanagement and the deaths of some 22,000 workers from disease and landslides, killed de Lesseps' scheme. Panama had crushed the hero of Suez.

(to be continued...)