USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM

[SOURCES]
What was the biggest obstacles people faced when building the Panama Canal?

(A) Hunger

(B) ** Yellow Fever and Malaria

(C) Drowning

(D) Not enough workers

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The deadly endemic diseases of yellow fever and malaria were dangerous obstacles that had already defeated French efforts to construct a Panama Canal in the 1880s. The crippling effects of these diseases, which incapacitated many workers and caused at least 20, 000 to die, led the French to abandon their goal in 1889.

Concept note-2: -“There is too much water, the rocks are exceedingly hard, the soil is very hilly and the climate is deadly. The country is literally poisoned, ” complained senior French engineer Adolphe Godin de Lépinay. Outbreaks of dysentery and epidemics of yellow fever and malaria decimated the workforce.

Concept note-3: -The building of the Panama Canal involved three main problems–engineering, sanitation, and organization.

Concept note-4: -Global warming and changing weather patterns are affecting the water supply for one of the world’s most important waterways, the Panama Canal, as well as access to drinking water for millions of Panamanians, reports journalist Grace Livingstone from Panama City.