Pre-Panama Canal History
In 1452, when the Eastern Roman Empire fell, the land routes to India were closed to Western and Christian Europe and international commerce reached a problem. For many years after, Columbus searched for a route in the West to the Indies. Although, he did not find it, he found the Isthmus of Panama and settled at Nombre de Dios. Before he died, he made plans to make a channel similar to the Panama Canal. After Columbus, Magellan traveled along the Antarctic Continent searching for what Columbus had previously found. Although, many attempted to find a route north of the America’s, but only one in the 20th century, Amundsen, was able to travel through the cold, frozen American north seas. As steam navigation began to accelerate, the demand for a canal increased. In 1880, plans had been made by the French to begin the work and expected the building of the canal to be a money-maker project. However, the project failed and the French used an unnecessary amount of money. Finally, in 1904, the United States of America took control of the Panama Canal project. Panama allowed the first Pan American conference that would allow the Monroe doctrine to work and end European colonization in the Americas.