 
for many years after columbus" voyages, europeans thought the new world was 
just a large land mass between them and the far east. 
explorers sailed up the broad rivers of both north and south america 
searching for a water route which would take them to the pacific ocean. 
since no such route existed, men began to dream of building one by cutting 
a canal across the land barrier. 
the most logical place was the narrow neck of land between north and south 
america called the isthmus of panama. 
like many of man's dreams, the building of a canal took a long time to 
complete. 
the first serious attempts were not made until the late 1800"s, and they 
ended in dismal failure. 
an american company had attempted to build a canal through nicaragua, in 
1889, but went bankrupt after wasting four and one half million dollars. 
a few years earlier, a french company led by ferdinand de[lesseps, famous 
for building the suez canal, had begun work in a province of colombia, called 
panama, at the site of the present canal. 
steaming hot jungle, torrential rain, and mosquitoes carrying malaria and 
yellow fever plagued the workers from the start. 
in all 5,527 workers died before the project was abandoned in 1889 at a 
great financial loss. 
one frenchman who worked with lesseps, however, did not give up. 
his name was philippe bunau-varilla. 
a closer look at the cartoon will reveal that bunau-varilla is depicted as 
the villain with a black hat and pointed mustache. 
he was a brilliant and energetic french engineer who refused to quit when 
lesseps" company went bankrupt. 
it was his hope that the united states would provide the money which would 
help him succeed where the other companies had failed. 
teddy roosevelt was also very interested in building a canal that would 
join the atlantic and the pacific oceans. 
