Panama Canal is a 77 kilometer long stretch of canal joining the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key place for international maritime trade. It has paved way to thousands of ships travelling in this route and has avoided taking the long route through Strait of Magellan or Cape Horn. This has increased trade multi folds and as William Howard Taft said “the great revolution it is going to introduce in the trade of the world is in the trade between east and west coast of the United States”. Several countries benefitted from Panama Canal and inevitably controversies and conflicts arose. Therefore a Panama Canal treaty was signed in 1977 and was a historic one. Some of the leaders like Omar Torrijos Herrera were against it who said “regarding the panama canal treaty negotiations they will find us standing up or dead but never on our knees”. Read these quotes on Panama Canal.
