Why did people want to build the panama and Suez canals?

Answer 1

Probably to make a quicker route for ships.

They also needed to be able to have a place for ships to stop to fuel and for the crew to use the bathroom and get food to eat, you can't get fuel in the middle of the ocean!

The Panama Canal, The history of the Panama Canal goes back almost to the earliest explorers of the Americas. The narrow land bridge between North and South America offers a unique opportunity to create a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The earliest colonists of Central America recognized this potential, and schemes for such a canal were floated several times in the subsequent years.

By the late 19th century, technological advances and commercial pressure advanced to the point where construction started in earnest. An initial attempt by France to build a sea-level canal failed, but only after a great amount of excavation was carried out. This was of use to the United States, which completed the present Panama Canal in 1913 and officially opened it in 1914. Along the way, the state of Panama was created through its separation from Colombia in 1903.

Today, the canal continues to be not only a viable commercial venture, but also a vital link in world shipping.

Answer 2

The Americans knew that they needed a faster and more economical route to the west coast and the Pacific. The only other sea route was to sail around the southern tip of South America.

http://www.answers.com/panamacanal

Note that the French had tried earlier, but had run out of money.

Answer 3

The idea, as implemented by the French with the Suez Canal, was to reduce shipping times and prevent loss of ships on dangerous routes. Both Africa's Cape of Good Hope and South America's Cape Horn are notorious for violent weather. However, the French efforts at a canal (1880-1893) failed.

The advantage to the US, which had consolidated its continental territory, was to improve shipping that connected the two coasts. This included commercial as well as military vessels. The Spanish-American War (1898) illustrated the difficulty of transferring ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back. Under President Theodore Roosevelt, the US decided to unilaterally build a canal, securing the territorial rights by facilitating the independence of Panama from Colombia in 1903. The US efforts from 1904 to 1914 built the canal, and its control was assured by US sovereignty over the Canal Zone until 1999.

Do not thank for answer i copied and pasted it i just wnted to help. :)

Answer 4

to shorten the trip to the Pacific Ocean

Answer 5

Short cuts.

Answer 6

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