Following the failure of a French construction team in the 1880s, the United States commenced building a canal across a 50-mile stretch of the Panama isthmus in 1904.

The project was helped by the elimination of disease-carrying mosquitoes, while chief engineer John Stevens devised innovative techniques and spurred the crucial redesign from a sea-level to a lock canal. His successor, Lt. Col. George Washington Goethals, stepped up excavation efforts of a stubborn mountain range and oversaw the building of the dams and locks.

Opened in 1914, oversight of the world-famous Panama Canal was transferred from the U.S. to Panama in 1999.

Bolstered by the addition of Madden Dam in 1935, the Panama Canal proved a vital component to expanding global trade routes in the 20th century.

The transition to local oversight began with a 1977 ztreaty signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Panama leader Omar Torrijos, with the Panama Canal Authority assuming full control on December 31, 1999.

Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven wonders of the modern world in 1994, the canal hosted its 1 millionth passing ship in September 2010.

January 14, 2023 – this is the 3rd time for us that we see and go through this marvel of technology on a cruise ship.