USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Panama Canal cost the United States around $375, 000, 000-this figure includes the $10, 000, 000 paid to Panama and $40, 000, 000 paid to the French when they abandoned the project. At the time, it was the most expensive construction project in U.S. history.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Panama Canal cost the United States about $375 million, including $10 million paid to Panama and $40 million paid to the French company.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1903, the United States negotiated a treaty with Colombia that granted the United States the right to construct and operate a canal for 100 years within a zone six-miles wide across Panama.

Detailed explanation-4: -Americans knew they needed this to move ships from east to west quickly. If they did that, they would control power because they would control the oceans. The Canal was a geopolitical strategy to make the United States the most powerful nation on earth. Also, the economic impact was massive.

Detailed explanation-5: -The construction of the canal was completed in 1914, 401 years after Panama was first crossed overland by Europeans by Vasco Núñez de Balboa’s party of conquistadores. The United States spent almost $500 million (roughly equivalent to $13.5 billion in 2021) to finish the project.