Given its strategic location between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Panama Canal played a decisive role in the economic and commercial development of the 20th century since it has since then provided a much shorter and cheaper way to cross the two oceans. This achievement has meant to be a commercial revolution worldwide, both for the developed nations and those countries that were in faraway enclaves before its construction.

Looking back in history we find that the history of the canal goes a long way in time, when the Panama isthmus was used as a transit way by those who were immigrating within the boundaries of the Americas. It was in 1513, when Vasco Nuñez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean and the building of a canal running through the isthmus was nothing but a farfetched dream. King Carlos V ordered the sketching of the first blueprint of a canal through Panama. Despite these developments, the first comprehensive research was the one that a group of Flamenco engineers sent to Felipe II.

During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, a number of countries came up with different projects. In 1879, an international congress took place in Paris, attended by some of the world’s most qualified engineers at the time. As many as fourteen projects were presented in that event. The winner was the design for an inter-oceanic even-level canal from the Golf of Limon to the Panama Bay, this one presented by Wyse, Reclus and Sosa.

According to the plan, the canal was supposed to be built in eight years and would have 43 miles long, 26 feet deep, 72 feet wide in the bottom, and 124 feet at water level. In December 1879, Lesseps and Wyse, together with several engineers and secretaries, sailed off from Saint Nazaire as soon as Mr. Lesseps successfully sold his stakes of the Suez Canal he had just built. On January 10, 1880, the groundwork began at the Boca del Rio Grande, blessed by the city’s bishop and sponsored by illustrious citizens of Panama and overseas. On January 21, 1882, the groundwork began. In 1894, the project got cranked up by new research studies and an equally new Canal Company. Nonetheless, problems persisted and the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty was signed, giving the United States exclusive rights to build and control the Panama Canal perpetually. The pact established a 12-mile area on both sides of the canal in exchange for an initial installment of $10 million and annual fees of a quarter of a million dollars.

It wasn’t until August 15, 1914; that the Panama Canal finally saw the light of day as a result of French expertise and America’s go-to spirit. Ten years, 75,000 men and women, and $400 million dollars later, the canal opened. After World War II, the evolution of navies and the streamlining of vessels turned the canal into a far more efficient alternative for maritime transportation. A new phase started out in October 1979, the date the Panama Canal operated under the Torrijos-Carter Treaty that had been inked in 1977 between Panama and the U.S.

From that moment until the high noon of December 31, 1999, the canal was run and managed under the treaty. That same day, the full administration of the canal was passed on to Panamanian authorities, more specifically to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP is the Spanish acronym).

The third stage came to pass on October 22, 2006, when the Panamanian people voted for the enhancement of the Panama Canal in a referendum. This recent plebiscite has marked a new historic milestone for a country that came into being has nearly exclusively lived for the Canal. The demise of the Canal as the top inter-oceanic passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific would definitely bring Panama down. Now the gateway is open with the approval of 78 percent of voters. Now it’s up to the Panamanians to give the Canal a much better use.