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Panama Canal: A Corridor of Corpses
Manage episode 464415854 series 3502293
The Panama Canal wasn't built, it was bled into existence.
What began in the 1880s as a grand French dream quickly unraveled into a nightmare. Led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the man who conquered the Suez, workers fell by the thousands, claimed by malaria, yellow fever, and the jungle itself. The earth collapsed. The money vanished. And the dream rotted in the heat.
Then came the Americans. But they didn’t just dig—they schemed. With silent backing, Panama was carved off from Colombia in a staged revolution. In 1904, with guns and contracts in hand, the U.S. took control. And where the French had failed, America succeeded—through industrial force, medical warfare, and raw political will. In 1914, the canal opened… a scar across a continent, a gateway to empire.
But the canal has never truly belonged to Panama. It has been a pawn, a prize, a pressure point in the global order. Even a century later, echoes of control, betrayal, and ambition remain. Presidents still argue over it. Nations still watch it.
Join Keith as he dredges up the true story of the Panama Canal, not just a marvel of engineering, but a monument to death, dominance, and the brutal price of progress.
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