Original subtitles

(clock ticking)

- There's this one lake in Central America that,

if you look closely enough,

you're gonna see the tops of trees in the lake.

And these, these are not islands.

These are hilltops.

This all used to be a dense jungle, not a lake.

But then they built dams and all sorts of infrastructure

to flood this forest, all in the name of solving

a centuries-old puzzle, which was,

"How do we make it faster and easier

"to travel between here and here,

"even in spite of the fact

"that you have two massive continents

"blocking any waterway?"

But there was hope,

if you look down here at this one thin stretch of land.

Here it's only 80 kilometers across,

and it looked so easy to just cut a waterway into it.

No.

Turns out, that puzzle was not easy.

(suspenseful music)

This little 80 kilometer strip of land

proved to be really hard to cut through,

but as long as international trade continued to grow,

there continued to be great powers looking for new waterways

to shorten their routes and to increase their power,

for whoever controls the water has the power.

And these great powers always focused

on this narrow stretch of land,

from the Spanish in the 14th century

to the Scottish in the 15th.

But then, the most earnest and serious attempt was in 1880,

when this guy, a French engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps,

shows up and is like, "Hey, I got this."

He had just completed

another big world-changing canal over here.

He was feeling very confident, and he's like,

"Yup, I'm your guy.

"Let's build another canal.

"It'll be easy.

"We'll just dig down to sea level and re-route the river,

"like we did in Egypt with the Suez Canal

"and it'll be great and I'll be famous."

But listen, de Lesseps, Egypt is a flat desert

and Panama is not.

These mountains that you wanna dig through

are well above sea level.

So if you wanna dig down to sea level to make a flat canal,

it's not gonna be easy.

Meanwhile, another French engineer comes to de Lesseps

and he's like, "Dude, this isn't gonna work.

"It's way too much digging.

"Instead of bringing the mountains down to sea level,

"what you need to do is bring the sea up to the mountains."

And in a moment of collaborative creativity,

de Lesseps admits that he was wrong

and begins construction based on the new plans,

and then he promotes this guy as the head of engineering

and says, "Great idea."

No, de Lesseps was like,

"Bring the ocean up to the mountains?

"That sounds stupid.

"Screw you.

"I'm the famous one.

"The canal is going to be at sea level,

"just like we did with the Suez Canal."

So the French start digging.

Well, actually it wasn't the French.

It was a ton of poorly paid migrant workers

who were doing the digging,

hacking away at the jungle with machetes

and then digging by hand with pickaxes in sweltering heat,

knee deep in sitting water,

which is heaven for, you guessed it,

disease infested mosquitoes, which is terrible news.

But luckily, de Lesseps the engineer

was always there in the trenches with his workers,

wielding a pickax alongside his people.

Yeah, no, of course he wasn't.

He was just hanging out in France,

only visiting Panama twice over the course of seven years

to just check in on the project.

And what he realized when he showed up

seven years into this digging

is that things were going horribly.

People were dying, 40 or 50 a day.

All in all, 20 thousand workers died

trying to dig this canal.

Thousands died from disease and accidents,

and we will never know their names.

And it's not just that people are dying,

it's that the digging isn't working either.

They would do a bunch of digging one day,

and then the next day, the rain would bring in

all of the mud that they just dug back into the canal.

So de Lesseps shows up, realizes this is happening

and is like, "This is not working.

"Is there another way to dig this canal?"

And then he has a flashback to seven years earlier.

"Bring the sea up to the mountains."

And he's like,

"Oh yeah, that was actually a really good idea.

"My bad, we actually are gonna do that other plan instead."

But no, it was too late.

The investors were done.

They had lost way too much money.

20 thousand people were dead,

malaria and yellow fever were rampant.

This was a fatal project.

So the company that owned all of this work

had to abandon it and leave it unfinished in 1889.

Everyone gave up and left,

except for one of the top engineers on the project,

this guy.

I'm just gonna call him Philippe,

'cause after researching him for many days,

I now feel like I'm on a first name basis with him.

And by the way, he becomes a giant part of the story,

starting now.

So Philippe was this French engineer and businessman,

and he was obsessed with the canal.

He also had a huge financial stake in the project,

and where some investors would say,

"Darn, too bad, we invested in a bad bet, let's move on."

Philippe was like, "No, I will do whatever it takes

"to make sure that this is not a failure."

And what happens next is one of the most insane things

I have ever researched in my entire life, so buckle up.

(intriguing music)

- [Newscaster] The winds of change is blowing up a gale

in the Panama Canal zone.

- Okay, so let's get some context really quick.

It's 1900 at this point.

The US is really starting to get a handle

on this whole Imperialism thing that they've been doing.

They just fabricated a war with Spain,

which led them to conquer the Philippines,

Guam and Puerto Rico.

They'd just overthrown Hawaii's government.

They annexed Wake Island and American Samoa.

They're like, "Dude, this overseas empire thing

"is kinda working out for us."

The President at the time was Teddy Roosevelt,

who we've seen in previous episodes,

and Teddy is looking around this region

that the US is increasingly taking over,

and he sees an opportunity to dramatically increase

the naval power of the United States,

if they could just unite the Atlantic and the Pacific.

"It's time to build a canal", says Teddy.

So of course they looked somewhere in Central America,

and the original plan that the US wanted to pursue

was to build a canal not in Panama,

but here in Nicaragua.

It wasn't the shortest stretch of land in this area,

but there was a huge lake here,

which would cut down on the digging,

and it just made a lot of sense.

So they started doing surveys and making plans

to build a canal in Nicaragua.

Meanwhile, Philippe the Frenchman is still down here

at his failed project,

and he's seen the US become interested in the canal,

and he's like, "This is my moment of vindication."

So he goes to the US Congress and he's like,

"Hey guys, I know you're looking at Nicaragua,

"you've been doing all this site planning

"and surveys and stuff, but guess what?

"Right next to this proposed site for your canal,

"there are volcanoes.

"Big, scary, belching volcanoes.

"And one of them just erupted around here,

"sort of next to your site."

Nicaragua even had a postage stamp that featured

one of these nearby volcanoes erupting.

So the Frenchman goes around to the US Senators

and distributes this postage stamp and says,

"Look, scary volcanoes in Nicaragua.

"Don't build your canal here

"or they'll be destroyed by lava or something."

And guess what?

It totally worked.

The US Senate got cold feet about their Nicaragua canal plan

and they're like, "Uh, we're not gonna do this anymore.

"Let's find another place to build it."

And Philippe is like,

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe that just worked.

"Stamps with volcanoes?"

He's all giddy, and he's like,

"Hmm, I wonder where there would be a good place

"to build a canal.

"Oh, wait a minute, why not Panama?

"We the French already did a ton of work to get you started.

"Why don't you just pick up where we left off?

"We'll sell you all of our gear, all of our stuff.

"It'll be a great deal."

And the US is like, "But isn't Panama a part of Colombia?"

And yes indeed, at the time,

Panama was actually a part of Colombia.

It was not an independent country.

So the United States Congress is like,

"Okay, listen Philippe.

"We will buy you out of your canal project

"that you clearly failed on,

"but we will only do it if we can get approval

"from Colombia, who literally owns this land."

And Philippe is secretly like,

"Uh, there's no way that Colombia is going to go for this.

"They're gonna reject the plan

"and then the US is gonna back out

"and I'm gonna lose all my money

"and I have to make this happen."

Philippe was very serious about this canal.

So this is where Philippe starts to get really conniving

to pull out all the stops to get the canal built.

So he goes to the people who live

in the region of Colombia called Panama, and he says,

"Hey guys, I know you've sorta been wanting

"to be independent from Colombia for a long time.

"Bogota is so far away, they don't care about you.

"You could be your own country.

"What if I, a French engineer, could guarantee

"your independence without a bloody war?

"Just leave the details to me.

"Make me your ambassador and I will make this happen."

And the Panamanians are like, "But dude, you're French."

And he's like, "Yeah yeah yeah, but you're Colombian,

"so why don't we team up in the name of creating Panama,

"a new country?"

And they were like, "Okay fine, Philippe.

"You're our representative, our ambassador now.

"Just give us the signal

"when we should rise up for our independence,

"but you promise to make sure

"that Colombia's not gonna come in and quell our uprising."

And Philippe's like, "Yeah yeah yeah, I'll take care of it."

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Now let's get back to the Panama Canal.

So Philippe is now the ambassador of the Panamanians,

who are not a country yet,

but he's still hoping that maybe the Colombians

will approve the plan.

Philippe sort of has this in his back pocket,

this deal that he just made with the Panamanians.

He doesn't know if he has to use it yet.

But back to the Americans

having to ask Colombia for approval to build their canal.

Sure enough, they show up and Colombia's like,

"No, go home.

"You guys are way too aggressive around here lately.

"We're not interested.

"No canal, see you later."

So the US goes to Philippe and they say,

"Sorry bro, the deal is off.

"Colombia said no.

"We said we'd only do this if Colombia said yes.

"After all, Panama is a part of Colombia."

And Philippe is like, "Wait, hold on.

"I have a plan for this.

"I've been talking to the Panamanians

"and they want to break away from Colombia,

"and they made me their ambassador.

"I've even written them a new Constitution

"and designed them a new flag."

Wait, Philippe, are you a graphic designer?

"No, but I designed them a flag anyway.

"We can still make this canal thing happen.

"All I need you guys to do is show up with your navy

"to make sure that the Panamanians

"can rise up for independence

"without Colombia coming to shut it all down."

And the US Congress is like,

"Dude, you're nuts, see you later."

But out of nowhere, the President at the time shows up

and is like, "Did somebody say stage a theatrical revolution

"to take over more land and increase American power?"

Teddy was back on the scene.

Teddy loves this kind of stuff.

He loves the sort of backroom deals,

"Let's not ask for permission, let's ask for forgiveness."

This is Teddy Roosevelt's sweet spot.

So Philippe has all of his ducks in a row.

He's got Teddy Roosevelt on his side,

he has Panamanians who just gave him approval

to be their ambassador,

and he's like, "Let's do this."

So in November 1903, Philippe gives the nod

to the Panamanians to rise up,

to take over and declare themselves independent.

And at the same time, he signals to Teddy Roosevelt

to send in their big gun boats

to sit off the coast of Panama

to block Colombia from sending in reinforcements

to put down this revolution by the Panamanians.

And so Colombia is like, "Oh fine, take it.

"F you, America.

"You guys played real dirty there, okay?

"You know that?

"That was not cool."

So just as Philippe orchestrated,

Panama declares independence,

and Philippe is the ambassador.

The US is the first to recognize them as a new country,

and Teddy Roosevelt's like, "That was thrilling!

"Now what, Philippe?"

So Philippe is like, "Let's make a deal, America.

"I'm the official representative of Panama now,

"as per my agreement with the Panamanians,

"so let's write a treaty on behalf of Panama."

So he travels to the United States

and starts working on a treaty

between the United States and Panama

that would give the USA the rights and sovereignty

over this strip of land to build a canal.

I mean, this series of events is insane.

France fails to build a canal,

so one French dude, an engineer,

tries to redeem the whole thing

by convincing the US to change the location of their canal,

and then creates a revolution

and convinces the US to help back that revolution,

so that he, a Frenchman, can be the ambassador

of the newly created country of Panama,

and make a deal with the US.

Whoa, Philippe.

He was the one man band lobbyist

who somehow finagled this whole situation.

So Philippe and the Secretary of State of the United States

draw up this treaty that gives the US total control

over this strip of land for them to build their canal.

No Panamanians were in the room

when they drafted this treaty.

They gave no approval of this.

This treaty was between the US and Panama,

but really it was between the US

and Philippe the French engineer.

So now the US military shows up to Panama

to claim this land that they now see as theirs,

and the Panamanians are like,

"Dude, WTF, what are you doing here?"

And the US is like, "Oh, you signed a treaty with us

"giving us all this land."

And Panama's like, "No we didn't."

And then they're like, "Oh wait, light bulb.

"Philippe!

"That's why he wanted to be our ambassador!

"I get it.

"Man, we got played by Philippe."

And they totally did.

So now the US is setting up shop in Panama

to start digging their canal.

(film strip rolling)

The US picked up right where the French left off,

using effectively the same route that the French had dug

during their seven years of misery.

And speaking of misery, the US was able to learn

from the French's mistakes.

They started using railways to truck out all the dirt,

so that the mud wouldn't slide back into the canal,

and they learned how to drain the puddles of water

so that it wasn't a haven for disease infected mosquitoes.

And most importantly, they didn't try the crackpot idea

of trying to dig a canal all the way down to sea level.

They went with the much better idea

of digging the canal up high, 26 meters above sea level,

and using clever engineering to get ships up to that level.

"Like I said", said that one French engineer,

and de Lesseps was like,

"No one asked you, get out of here."

So after 10 years of construction

and a visit by Teddy Roosevelt,

who staged this amazing photo shoot

of him wearing a Panamanian hat,

sitting on one of the machines,

all to boost morale to get this project done,

after all of that, the US completed this dream

of slicing a water route

through this 80 kilometer stretch of land.

Philippe, at this point, is back in France,

probably exhausted from all of his scheming,

but ultimately very pleased that he was able to pull it off.

So the canal is done, and here's how it works.

(water rushing)

Remember that the land looks like this.

You have the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans here at sea level,

and then the interior of the land

being about 26 meters above sea level.

So first, they built a dam on this river

to create this giant lake,

so that they have loads of water to work with.

That's why we see those trees sticking up from the water,

or why these hilltops turned into islands.

Then they built these brilliant inventions called locks.

The boat enters here at sea level.

They enter into this chamber where there is a gate

that is holding the water from the high up lake back.

It's locked.

But once the boat is in this holding chamber,

they let the water from higher up come down,

making the boat flow up.

It takes about eight minutes for the boat to rise.

Then they move into the next chamber,

where they do this again and again,

until by the end of it, the boat has been lifted up

26 meters above sea level.

They then traverse the rest of this canal,

going through the artificial lake and snaking through

until they get to the other side,

where now they need to get down to sea level.

And they go through the same process, but in reverse.

They finally make it down to sea level

and they can exit onto now a different ocean

than when they started.

It's honestly an engineering marvel,

and it reshaped the global economic landscape,

making it easier and safer to move goods and people

around the world.

And yeah, the US was very serious about controlling

this little strip of land,

this choke point that they had built.

If you look at a map from the early or mid 1900s,

you're gonna see that the Panama Canal zone

was always marked as a sovereign part of the US.

Controlling a choke point like this

gives you strong strategic advantage, and the US knew that.

But the world would finally decide that big powers

shouldn't actually be able to swoop in

and take over whatever land they want.

- [Newscaster] The wind of change is blowing up a gale

in the Panama Canal zone,

and citizens have to defend themselves

as students and other rioters demanded the names

of the 61 year old Canal Zone Treaty with the United States.

- And the Panamanians in the 1960s finally had enough,

and they're like, "Yeah, this land is actually ours."

So in the 60s and 70s, the Panamanians rose up in protest

against this US occupation of the canal,

and through a series of treaties, they finally got it back.

Officially on the last day of the millennium,

December 31, 1999, they signed the last treaty

that returned sovereignty to Panama.

And then Jimmy Carter gave a speech in Spanish.

(Jimmy Carter speaking Spanish)

I mean, he, he tried really hard, and I guess that matters.

So today, the Panama Canal belongs to Panamanians.

It still uses the innovative technology from 100 years ago

that allows this canal to be built

26 meters above sea level.

But for all of the engineering innovation

that's present here,

to me, the more incredible part of this story

is how this one Frenchman orchestrated all of this.

He played all the geopolitical forces

at the time just right.

He used Panamanians' thirst for independence

and the Americans' thirst for imperialism and ocean power,

all to make his dream of this canal happen.

Oh, and to secure his financial return on the project.

What a wild story.

Thanks for watching.

(light music)