II 



THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL PROBLEM 



THE problem of interoceanic communication at some Cen- 

 tral American point is by no means a new one, as it finds its 

 origin in the very causes that led to the discovery of America. 

 The repeated voyages of Columbus were for the purpose of 

 finding an open waterway to the East Indies. The early 

 Spanish navigators explored every bay and cove and ascended 

 every river of Central and South America, in the hope of 

 discovering a passage through which their vessels might reach 

 those lands of boundless wealth of which Marco Polo had 

 given account. Their object was to find a short and direct 

 route " from Cadiz to Cathay." Since the days of the earliest 

 explorers, the history of Central America has been closely 

 associated with this question of an interoceanic waterway, 

 first, to discover the natural one, if it existed, and in its 

 absence, to construct an artificial one. 



A wagon road across the isthmus from Porto Bello to 

 Panama was constructed early in the sixteenth century for 

 transportation to and from the " El Dorado " that Pizarro 

 had discovered in Peru ; indeed, as early as 1530, Pedrarias 

 Davila, governor of Nicaragua, wishing to divert the transit 

 trade of Peru from Panama to his own flourishing colony, 

 conceived the plan of constructing short canals about the 

 rapids of the San Juan River, in order to make a waterway 

 between the " North " and " South " seas. The possibili- 

 ties and advantages of this open water connection between 

 the great oceans was also thoroughly appreciated by the 

 Spanish home authorities, for Charles V of Spain, in 1536, 

 ordered an exploration of the Chagres River (at Colon) for 

 the purpose of ascertaining whether a ship canal could be 

 practically substituted for the wagon road ; and Philip II, in 

 F 65 



