Panama Breaks Free: Canal Construction Starts
Panama declared independence from Colombia on November 3, 1903, in a revolution engineered by the United States. Washington wanted to build a canal through the isthmus, but Colombia's senate rejected the proposed treaty terms. Roosevelt's administration encouraged Panamanian separatists and positioned the USS Nashville off the coast to prevent Colombian troops from suppressing the revolt. The entire revolution took one day. No one was killed except a Chinese shopkeeper and a donkey hit by naval gunfire. Panama signed a canal treaty with the U.S. two weeks later, granting America a ten-mile-wide Canal Zone 'in perpetuity' for $10 million plus annual rent. Roosevelt later boasted 'I took the Canal Zone.' Colombia received $25 million in compensation from the U.S. in 1921, a tacit admission that the whole affair had been heavy-handed.
November 3, 1903
123 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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