Panama Canal, canal across the Isthmus of Panama, in Central
America, that allows vessels to travel between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
The waterway measures 64 km (40 mi), including dredged approach channels at each
end. The Panama Canal handles a large volume of world shipping and enables
vessels to avoid traveling around South America, reducing their voyages by
thousands of miles and many days.
Panama Canal The Panama Canal consists of three separate canal locks, as well as
other artificial waterways. The canal spans a total distance of 64 km (40 mi)
from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean through the Isthmus of Panama. The
ship shown here is entering the Panama Canal from the Caribbean, or Atlantic,
side.
The canal consists of artificially created lakes, channels, and a series of
locks, or water-filled chambers, that raise and lower ships through the
mountainous terrain of central Panama. Built by the United States from 1904 to
1914, the Panama Canal posed major engineering challenges, such as damming a
major river and digging a channel through a mountain ridge. It was the largest
and most complex project of this kind ever undertaken at that time, employing
tens of thousands of workers and costing $350 million.
