In the end though the French chose Panama. A harsh tropical climate & mortal diseases. Panama woud obviously require a shorter canal, but the terrain was less inviting. Besides some bigger rivers, an enormous central lake, Lake Nicaragua. Suitable geographical features that would considerably shorten the actual canal to build. The shipping route would be almost three times longer then the one in Panama, but Nicaragua harbored some advantages.

The most serious ones were located in Nicaragua (2) & Panama (1).įor a long time, Nicaragua was the preferred option for a canal. Interoceanic shipping routes considered in the central part of the AmericasĪs you can see in the map above, several options for a canal were considered. The French started the canal…Īfter successfully finishing the Suez Canal the French in 1869 set their mind to engineering a similar shipping route through the central part of the Americas. This way avoiding a long trip around the dangerous Cape Horn.Īlthough the Spaniards soon laid several east-west mule tracks through the smallest parts of Mexico and Central America, they never formed ideal routs to transport gold, silver, & other riches, nor merchandise. Mainly to get the South American riches to Spain asap (as well as European products to Peru & Chili).

A fast route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and vice versa. The Panama Canal.Īn old wish that was born quickly after the Spanish “discovered”, conquered & colonized the Americas. This time not a connection between Brooklyn & Manhattan, but a shipping canal through the Central part of America. 3 Share this: Mayor modern day constructionsĪs with the book about the Brooklyn Bridge, the central theme in McCullough ’s The Path between the Seas is the realization of a world famous engineering project.

The path between the seas book