Panama Canal
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Panama Canal is a waterway in the country of Panama (Central America), that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The Panama Canal uses three locks for the changes in water level. Each lock changes the water level to keep ships from getting stuck. Each year about 14,000 ships come through. By 2002, around 800,000 ships came through. The French tried building it in 1880, but failed, it was finally finished in 1914 by the United States who spent ten years on building it. The canal is 77km (48 miles) long, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, and saves ships 15,000 km. If a ship is too big to go through the Panama Canal it has to go around South America.
It is an interesting fact that, because of the way Panama twists, the entrance to the Pacific Ocean is east of the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean. This is the opposite of what one would expect.
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