the panama canal is a 77 kilometer ship canal in panama that conneccts the atlantic ocean and the pacific ocean.
The canal is a key sea route for international trade.
There are locks the both ends of the canal to lift ships up to Gatun Lake. Gatun Lake, which is part of the canal ,is an artificial lake the was creates to reduce the amount of excavation work required for construction of the canal.
The lake is 26 maters above sea level.
The current locks are 33.5 meters wide.
A wider set of locks is currently under construction and is due to open in 2016.
France first attempted to build a canal through Panama in 1880.
At the time, Panama was not a country.
It was a province of Colombia.
The French effort was led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who earlier had led the construcion of the Suez Canal in Egypt.
However malaria, yellow fewer, and other tropical diseases were not understood during this first effort, and they doomed it.
After nine years of work and approximately 20000 deaths of canal workers, the French attempt went bankrupt went bankrupt and ended.