Panama: Crossroads of Empires · Episode 7 of 24 · 23 min
The French Panama Canal: How the Hero of Suez Buried 22,000 People
Ferdinand de Lesseps, hero of Suez, took on Panama in 1880 and insisted on a sea-level canal. Disease killed about 22,000 workers, and the 1889 financial collapse ruined 800,000 small investors. The ensuing Panama Scandal brought prosecutions and an antisemitic backlash in France.
Who's who
- Ferdinand de LessepsBuilder of the Suez Canal and promoter of the French Panama Canal
- Charles de LessepsHis son, who handled finances and was convicted in the scandal
- Gustave EiffelEngineer contracted to build the canal's locks; prosecuted
- Philippe Bunau-Varilla+2 more episodesYoung French engineer on the project who reappears in 1903
- William GorgasDoctor who later beat the disease for the Americans
Where it happens
- Panama+5 more episodesSite of the French canal works
- Culebra Cut, PanamaMain excavation area of the French effort
- Chagres River, Panama+1 more episodeRiver prone to violent seasonal floods
- Paris, France+5 more episodesWhere the company was liquidated and the scandal broke
Timeline
- 1879Paris congress endorses de Lesseps's sea-level canal
- 1880-1881Compagnie Universelle begins work
- c. 1887De Lesseps concedes a lock canal; Eiffel hired for locks
- February 4, 1889Paris court orders the company liquidated
- 1892-1893Panama Scandal breaks; de Lesseps, his son and Eiffel prosecuted
- 1894Successor Compagnie Nouvelle formed
Still debated
The accepted toll is about 22,000 dead, though the company suppressed records. Eiffel was convicted but the verdict was later annulled, and his exact responsibility is debated. The scandal gravely discredited the political class and fed antisemitic movements.