Harsh Working Conditions in the Construction of the Panama Canal

construction of the Panama Canal, radically changing world trade It was a project. However, this project was much more difficult and deadly than expected.

Thousands of workers lost their lives during construction and He left behind tragic stories. Really, what made this construction so deadly and difficult?

The construction of the Panama Canal began with the dream of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

But the Panamanian isthmus turned out to be one of the most difficult and deadly places for the dream to come true. Construction teams; The average temperature is quite high, Receiving 2667 mm of precipitation per year and he had to work in a forest full of snakes.

Workers working in difficult conditions in the morning have to wear wet clothes because there were times when they couldn’t see the sun for weeks.

At least 25,000 workers lost their lives during the construction. Laborer Alfred Dottin, “The working conditions of those days were so terrible that it boggles your imagination. Death was our constant companion.” He gave a brief summary by saying:

In 1881, the French began construction of the Panama Canal.

Successful in the construction of the Suez Canal French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, He realized that building canals in Panama’s mountainous jungle was quite difficult.

Continuous rains, burying workers alive caused landslides. The flood washed away construction equipment.

Epidemic diseases killed a third of workers within three months. Most of the French engineers died within a few months of arriving in Panama. When the French abandoned the project in 1888 about 20,000 workers He lost his life.

Sixteen years after the failure of the French initiative, the United States restarted the project.

The Americans encountered the same problems the French faced in the first year of the project. with disabilities such as yellow fever and malaria they met. John F. Stevens emphasized the work of chief medical officer William Crawford Gorgas.

Gorgas was among the doctors who discovered that yellow fever and malaria were spread by mosquitoes. Thanks to Gorgas’ health campaign Cases of yellow fever have decreased greatly and thousands of workers’ lives were saved.

As the yellow fever threat diminished in 1909, accidents became the leading cause of death in the construction zone. Between 1904 and 1913 The US recorded 5,855 worker deaths. With the French initiative, the number of people who lost their lives reached 25,000.

Although the Panama Canal is a project that revolutionized world trade, it difficulties and losses We are sure it will never be forgotten.

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