How many men and women worked on the panama canal?

Answer 1

It is impossible to answer that question with any certainty. The history of the Panama Canal can be traced back as early as 1514 with the Spanish construction of a road. By 1529, the Spanish had drawn up a plan to construct a canal, but it could not be done with the technology of its time. Unknown numbers of people died during these attempts. In 1698, the Scottish dug in and faced the same problems, finally abandoning the project in 1700 after burying more than 400 workers. Over the next hundred years or so, the German and French also made many attempts to build a canal. Each attempt was abandoned after significant loss of life, money, and equipment. Fast forward to the 1900's went the United States took on the challenge. Eventually, they succeeded with more than 75,000 total workers, but not without the loss of at least 5,609 documented deaths from disease and accidents. One probably could conservatively estimate that more than 100,000 people contributed to the construction of the Panama canal over a period of more than 400 years.