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Related: About this forumThe long history of Nicaragua’s canal dreams
Plans are afoot once again to build a canal through Nicaragua, providing a shortcut for container ships carrying goods to and from Asia and the east coast of North America. Like others before it, the plan is controversial for economic, political, and environmental reasons...
The Spanish conquistadores were the first to investigate a canal route through Nicaragua in the 1500s. Interest revived with the arrival of the California Gold Rush in the 1840s. Railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt operated a shuttle operation through Nicaragua taking would-be prospectors from Caribbean ports up the San Juan River and across Lake Nicaragua before shuttling them overland to the Pacific, where they could resume their journey by ship to San Francisco. Vanderbilt proposed building a canal, but his plans were thwarted when another American, William Walker, invaded Nicaragua with a private army.
In the early 1900s, the U.S. Senate faced a choice between backing a canal project in Nicaragua or one in Panama. For a while, Nicaragua looked like a strong favorite: It offered the lowest passage between the two seas anywhere between Alaska and Tierra del Fuego and it was thought to be relatively free of malaria and other tropical diseases, which were prevalent in the jungles of Panama.
But a last-minute gambit by backers of the Panama project may have swayed the outcome in their favor: A Nicaraguan postage stamp depicting an erupting volcano appeared in the office of every Senator, supposed evidence of that countrys seismic activity and unsuitability for a canal. (Whether or not the stamp actually influenced the outcome isnt clear, but it was one of the most clever ploys in a sustained lobbying campaign)...
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/02/nicaragua-canal-maps/?cid=co19201774#slide-id-556701
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The long history of Nicaragua’s canal dreams (Original Post)
MinM
Feb 2014
OP
Paolo123
(297 posts)1. I've read a lot about the Panama Canal
It appears as though there was a fair amount of corruption. The big backers who pushed the Panama decision over Nicaragua appear to have gotten a kickback from the French Canal Company whose assets were sold to the US Endeavor but otherwise would have gone to zero.
Judi Lynn
(160,587 posts)2. Love the maps! Thank you for the historical background.
Looks as if some very sleazy tactics were taken, sounding very modern, to avert attention from what was the better route.
Full speed ahead, Nicaragua!