D.Lack of demand
Explanation:
History of the Panama Canal
The History of the Panama Canal goes back almost to the earliest explorers of the Americas. The narrow land bridge between North and South America offers a unique opportunity to create a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This potential was recognised by the earliest colonists of Central America, and schemes for such a canal were floated several times in the subsequent years.
By the late 1800's, technological advances and commercial pressure advanced to the point where construction started in earnest. An initial attempt by France to build a sea-level canal failed, but only after a great amount of excavation was carried out. This was of use to the effort by the United States which finally resulted in the present Panama Canal in 1914. Along the way, the nation of Panama was created by division from Colombia.
Today, the canal continues to be not only a viable commercial venture, but also a vital link in world shipping.
Before the Canal
The strategic location of the Isthmus of Panama, and the short distance between the oceans there, have prompted many attempts over the centuries to forge a trading route between the oceans. Although all of the early schemes involved a land route linking ports on either coast, speculation on a possible canal goes back to the earliest days of European exploration of Panama.
The Spanish Era
In 1514, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to see the eastern Pacific, built a crude road which he used to haul his ships from Santa María la Antigua del Darién on the Atlantic coast of Panama to the Bay of San Miguel and the Mar del Sur ( Pacific). This road was about 30 - 40 miles long, but was soon abandoned.
In November of 1515, Captain Antonio Tello de Guzmán discovered a trail crossing the isthmus from the Gulf of Panama to Porto Bello, past the site of the abandoned town of Nombre de Diós. This trail had been used by the natives for centuries, and was well laid out. It was improved and paved by the Spaniards, and became El Camino Real. This road was used to haul looted gold to the warehouse at Porto Bello for transportation to Spain, and was the first major cargo crossing of the Isthmus of Panamas
In 1524 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, suggested that by cutting out a piece of land somewhere in Panama, the trips from Ecuador and Peru would be made shorter and allow for a quicker and less risky trip back and forth to Spain for ships carrying goods, especially gold. A survey of the isthmus and a working plan for a canal were drawn up in 1529. The European political situation and level of technology at the time made this impossible.
The road from Porto Bello to the Pacific had its problems, and in 1533, Licentiate Gaspar de Espinosa recommended to the king that a new road be built. His plan was to build a road from the town of Panamá, which was the Pacific terminus of El Camino Real, to the town of Cruces, on the banks of the Chagres River and about 20 miles from Panamá. Once on the Chagres River, boats would carry cargo to the Caribbean. This road was built, and was known as El Camino a Cruces, the Las Cruces Trail. At the mouth of the Chagres, the small town of Chagres was fortified, and the fortress of San Lorenzo was built on a bluff, overlooking the area. From Chagres, treasures and goods were transported to the king's warehouse in Porto Bello, to be stored until the treasure fleet left for Spain.
This road lasted many years, and was even used in the 1840s by gold prospectors heading for the California Gold Rush.
The Scottish Attempt
The Darien Scheme was another early attempt to establish an overland route for trade between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In July, 1698, five ships left Leith, in Scotland, in an attempt to establish a colony in the Darién, as a basis for a sea and land trading route to China and Japan. The colonists arrived on the coast of Darién in November, and claimed it as the Colony of Caledonia. However, the expedition was ill-prepared for the hostile conditions, badly led, and ravaged by disease; the colonists finally abandoned New Edinburgh, leaving four hundred graves behind.
Unfortunately, a relief expedition had already left Scotland, and arrived at the colony in November, 1699, but faced the same problems, as well as attack and then blockade by the Spaniards. Finally, on April 12, 1700, Caledonia was abandoned for the last time, ending this disastrous venture.
