In 1880, the Panama Canal was started by a French company run by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who also built the Suez Canal. The firm went bankrupt in 1888, after building more than a third of the excavations.

When people first conceived and were talking about a grand canal across the isthmus, discussions between the United States and Great Britain led to the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty that pledged that each party would never “obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control over the said ship-canal,” or to “ assume or exercise any dominion … over any part of Central America.”

In 1899, John Hay, as secretary of state, started negotiations with England. This resulted in the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, completed Feb. 5, 1900, and nullifying the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. On Nov.18, 1903, the United States signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty. The terms of the treaty were that the United States would control the canal and five miles on either side of it in perpetuity. It also called for an initial cash payment of $10 million and $250,000 a year for rent.

Work on the canal started in 1903 and was finished in 1914.

The United States maintained and controlled the canal until 1977. That was when President Jimmy Carter signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, two treaties signed by the United States and Panama in Washington D.C. on Sept. 7, 1977, which superseded the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903 and gave possession of the Panama Canal Zone back to Panama.

Now, President-elect Donald Trump wants control of the Panama Canal back. It will be very interesting and worth watching to see exactly how he goes about it.

Stan Zabierek

New Ipswich