1. man to oversee the construction of the
panama canal
this project though proved to be a far
more complex one
[Music]
frederic gristeno went to panama to
trace the nightmarish story of the
construction of this canal
this small central american country a
strip of 725 kilometers of land between
latin america and north america
separates the atlantic from the pacific
in the narrowest area of the isthmus
covered by dense humid jungle
the man known as the great frenchman
embarked upon the construction of his
new
inter-oceanic maritime canal
but the diplomat blinded by glory
underestimated the climatic
geological and economic hurdles that
would have to be overcome
and despite the reluctance of certain
advisors work began in 1882
[Music]
as well as discovering a dense tropical
forest flooded by torrential rains
workers faced another major difficulty
a mountainous area the culebra which
rises to 95 meters above sea level
they had the geography figured out but
not the geology
they thought they could carve their way
through the mountain a little like the
corinth canal
this turned out to be very crumbly rock
and digging it triggered landslides
and those landslides facilitated by the
heavy rains destroyed all the sites
so they kept having to start again it
really was a sisyphean task
before long the workers were suffering
from unfamiliar diseases
the truth was that the area was infested
with mosquitoes
carrying yellow fever and malaria
death was cutting them down one by one
under the helpless gaze of the doctors
back then physicians simply didn't have
the scientific knowledge to fight these
diseases
as an example they thought that putting
a basin of water
at the foot of the bed prevented ants
from climbing up to the patient
what actually happened was that the
mosquitoes were laying their eggs
in the water
so hospitals were propagating the
diseases they were trying to fight
[Music]
tens of thousands of workers died it was
![man to oversee the construction of the
panama canal
this project though proved to be a far
more complex one
[Music]
frederic gristeno went to panama to
trace the nightmarish story of the
construction of this canal
this small central american country a
strip of 725 kilometers of land between
latin america and north america
separates the atlantic from the pacific
in the narrowest area of the isthmus
covered by dense humid jungle
the man known as the great frenchman
embarked upon the construction of his
new
inter-oceanic maritime canal
but the diplomat blinded by glory
underestimated the climatic
geological and economic hurdles that
would have to be overcome
and despite the reluctance of certain
advisors work began in 1882
[Music]
as well as discovering a dense tropical
forest flooded by torrential rains
workers faced another major difficulty
a mountainous area the culebra which
rises to 95 meters above sea level
they had the geography figured out but
not the geology
they thought they could carve their way
through the mountain a little like the
corinth canal
this turned out to be very crumbly rock
and digging it triggered landslides
and those landslides facilitated by the
heavy rains destroyed all the sites
so they kept having to start again it
really was a sisyphean task
before long the workers were suffering
from unfamiliar diseases
the truth was that the area was infested
with mosquitoes
carrying yellow fever and malaria
death was cutting them down one by one
under the helpless gaze of the doctors
back then physicians simply didn't have
the scientific knowledge to fight these
diseases
as an example they thought that putting
a basin of water
at the foot of the bed prevented ants
from climbing up to the patient
what actually happened was that the
mosquitoes were laying their eggs
in the water
so hospitals were propagating the
diseases they were trying to fight
[Music]
tens of thousands of workers died it was](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/4-210918164849/85/4-1-320.jpg)
