Editing Panama Canal (section)

===Early proposals in Panama===

The idea of the Panama Canal dates back to 1513, when the Spanish [[conquistador]] [[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]] first crossed the [[Isthmus of Panama]]. He wrote in his journal the possibility of a canal but did not take action.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Otfinoski |first=Steven |title=Vasco Nunez de Balboa: Explorer of the Pacific |date=2005 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=978-0-7614-1609-8 |location=New York |pages=70 |language=en}}</ref> Instead, the first trans-isthmian route was established to carry the plunder of Peru to Spain from Panama to [[Nombre de Dios, Colón|Nombre de Dios]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Verdereau |first=Adolphus Eustace |title=A Lecture on the Inter-ocean Panama Canal: Retrospect and Comparison Between the French and American Control ... |date=1909 |publisher=Isthmian printing office |location=Panama |pages=28 |language=en}}</ref> European powers soon noticed the possibility to dig a water passage between the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] and [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] Oceans across this narrow land bridge between North and South America. The earliest proposal dates to 1534, when the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] ordered a survey for a route through the Americas in order to ease the voyage for ships traveling between Spain and Peru.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/index.html |title=A History of the Panama Canal: French and American Construction Efforts |publisher=Panama Canal Authority |access-date=3 September 2007 |archive-date=15 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215060157/http://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/index.html }}; Chapter 3, ''[http://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/early.html Some Early Canal Plans] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102032703/http://www.pancanal.com/eng/history/history/early.html |date=2 January 2015 }}''</ref> In 1668, the English physician and philosopher Sir [[Thomas Browne]] specifically proposed the [[Isthmus of Panama]] as the most convenient place for such a canal.<ref>{{cite book |section=Book 6, chapter 8 |title=On the River Nile |edition=4th |year=1668 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aOI_AQAAMAAJ |last1=Browne |first1=Sir Thomas |author-link=Thomas Browne |access-date=10 January 2022 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119062425/https://books.google.com/books?id=aOI_AQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first attempt actually to make the isthmus part of a trade route was the ill-fated [[Darien scheme]], launched by the [[Kingdom of Scotland]] (1698–1700), which was abandoned because of the inhospitable conditions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kinnaird.net/darien.htm |title=Darien Expedition |access-date=3 September 2007 |archive-date=19 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719173435/http://www.kinnaird.net/darien.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1811, the German naturalist [[Alexander von Humboldt]] published an essay on the geography of the Spanish colonies in Central America ([https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/85270#page/8/mode/1up ''Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne'']; translated into English as: [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/85282#page/12/mode/1up ''Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain containing researches relative to the geography of Mexico'']). In the essay, he considered five possible routes for a canal across Central America, including Panama, but concluded that the most promising location was across [[History of the Nicaragua Canal|Nicaragua]], traversing [[Lake Nicaragua]].{{sfn|McCullough|1977|pp=28–30}} His recommendations influenced the British to attempt a canal across Nicaragua in 1843. Although this attempt in the end came to nothing, it resulted in the [[Clayton–Bulwer Treaty]] (1850) between the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]], in which the two nations bound each other to joint control of any canal built in Nicaragua or (by implication) anywhere in Central America.{{sfn|McCullough|1977|p=38}}

[[File:Admiralty Chart No 657 Isthmus of Panama Showing The Proposed Panama Canal and the Railway . . . , Published 1885.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|An 1885 map showing the Railway and the proposed Panama Canal route]] In 1846, the [[Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty]], negotiated between the US and [[Republic of New Granada|New Granada]] (the predecessor of [[Colombia]]), granted the United States transit rights and the right to intervene militarily in the isthmus.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=McPherson |first=Alan |title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Military Interventions in Latin America: [2 volumes] |date=2013-07-08 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-59884-260-9 |location=New York |pages=498 |language=en}}</ref> In 1848, the [[California Gold Rush|discovery of gold in California]] created a demand for a crossing of Panama as a practical route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.<ref name=":1" /> This demand was exploited by American businessman [[William Henry Aspinwall]], who ran steamship legs from New York City to Panama, and from Panama to California, with an overland portage through Panama. This route was soon exploited by other businessmen, such as [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Stiles |first=T. J. |title=The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt |date=2009 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-375-41542-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/~dj114/SS_Central_America.pdf |title=COLUMBUS-AMERICA DISCOVERY GROUP and the SS CENTRAL AMERICA |last= |first= |date= |website=columbia.edu |publisher= |access-date=10 November 2024 |quote=}}</ref> Between 1850 and 1855, a syndicate founded by Aspinwall built a railroad (now the [[Panama Canal Railway]]) from [[Colón, Panama|Colón]] on the [[Caribbean Sea]] to [[Panama City]]. The project cost US$ 8,000,000 (six times the estimated cost) and between 6,000 and 12,000 of construction workers who succumbed to tropical diseases. The railroad soon became immensely profitable for its owners.{{sfn |McCullough|1977|pp=35–37}}

In 1870, US President [[Ulysses S. Grant|Grant]] established an Interoceanic Canal Commission, which included Chief of Engineers [[Andrew A. Humphreys|Brigadier General Andrew A Humphreys]] as its members.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunn |first=James W. |title=The Engineer |date=2000 |publisher=U.S. Army Engineer Center |pages=28 |language=en}}</ref> It commissioned several naval officers, including Commander [[Thomas Oliver Selfridge Jr.]], to investigate the possible routes suggested by Humboldt for a canal across Central America. The commission decided in favour of Nicaragua, establishing this as the preferred route amongst American policy-makers.{{sfn|McCullough|1977|pp=19–22, 40–44, 59}}