USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM

[SOURCES]
Panama was a colony of which country when the US decided it wanted to get the land needed for the Panama Canal?

(A) Paraguay

(B) ** Colombia

(C) Cuba

(D) Mexico

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The area that became Panama was part of Colombia until the Panamanians revolted, with U.S. support, in 1903. In 1904, the United States and Panama signed a treaty that allowed the United States to build and operate a canal that traversed Panama.

Concept note-2: -With the help of the United States, a revolution occurred in Colombia that led to Panama’s proclaiming its independence on November 4, 1903. A scant two weeks later Panama signed a treaty allowing the U.S. to build, own, and control the Panama Canal.

Concept note-3: -The Panama Canal was first developed following the failure of a French construction team in the 1880s, when the United States commenced building a canal across a 50-mile stretch of the narrow Panama isthmus in 1904.

Concept note-4: -Answer and Explanation: The US supported the Panamanian rebellion against Columbia in order to get a favorable deal to build the Panama Canal.

Concept note-5: -With the support of the U.S. government, Panama issues a declaration of independence from Colombia. The revolution was engineered by a Panamanian faction backed by the Panama Canal Company, a French-U.S. corporation that hoped to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama.