Panamanian here. You got the end wrong. The expansion was finished in 2016. The new locks have been fully operational for almost 3 years.

When I was a teenager, and met up with co-workers and friends at our local Friendly Restaurant for coffee and whatnot before and after work, I met and became friends with an elderly gentleman who worked on both the Panama canal, and the Hoover dam! Al was a real gem of a man. The type of guy that impressionable boys should model their own lives on. I looked up to him, and felt that the entire world lost a great human being when he passed away in 1989. To have participated in 2 of the world's largest engineering/building projects, and lived a long, humble and personable life, there didn't seem anything the man couldn't accomplish, and I'd bet dollars against doughnuts that there aren't but a handful of men living today who could survive the brutal , laborious hours for the pittance in compensation my old friend Al smiled and laughed while explaining his role in either of those projects. People like that amaze me. I wish there were a lot more, because with them, the world would be a much nicer place to live in the 21st century.

"Charles, the Numerically Confusing". Ok, this is a thing now.

My Army father was stationed in Puerto Rico when the Korean War broke out. He then received orders to Panama CZ. The family sailed via Navy ship and crossed the zone to the Pacific side. He was later transferred to the Atlantic side and again we went via ship through the canal. I was 10 in 1950. He was stationed at Ft Clayton which was very close to the canal. The family lived in quarters at Ft. Kobe. My brother and I attended a missionary school in Balboa and to get there we crossed over the canal daily. We saw many famous ships from WW2 like the USS Battleship Missouri going through the locks. As a child I was totally oblivious to the tensions of our government being there so this video has been very enlightening. Many thanks .

A nugget of trivia that always amazes me--the Atlantic end of the canal is actually further West than the Pacific end.

I dunno Simon, the shortcut between my bed and the fridge is pretty amazing.

My dad was one of those army brats who partially grew up in the Panama Canal Zone, and even graduated from the high school there. When I was little, I begged my Dad to get stationed there, so I, too, could explore the jungle, learn to scuba dive, and have a parrot and a monkey as pets. To my childhood self, Panama was a magical place.

Best video about the history of my country ever on KZfaq. It's basically a whole year of History in Panama condensed down to 23 minutes. Loved every second of if and a few very small and not event changing details are missing, for example the Bidlack Treaty is actually named Mallarino-Bidlack.

To their massive credit - the Panamanians not only maintained and kept the canal working great - but they even expanded it massively. Good job Panama!

Holy shite simon, ive been following your various channels for a while now and i'm also a panamanian citizen so I grew up with this history being taught in school for pretty much all my childhood and lemme tell you that you made it sound way more interesting than any of my previous professors ever did, you definitely have a knack for this! Looking forward for more content!

I was in the US Navy when the Canal changed hands. I was on the last US warship to go through the Canal while under the US flag and also onboard to also be the first to go back through under the Panamanian. It was definitely a unique experience.

As a guy who’s spent nearly 40 years working in mining and construction (As all my family has for generations) can we all please take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices made by the workers on projects like this and the callousness and blatant disregard for human lives from the people in charge. No marvel of engineering is worth such a staggering death toll. It fills my heart with sorrow....

Panamanian here! Thanks for teaching some of our history to others! We here are very proud of the canal haha 🇵🇦🇵🇦🇵🇦

A man a plan a canal Panama. The longest palindrome I was taught as a child :D

20:39 My high school History teacher was one of those 26,000 troops, and he used to read parts of his journal from his time there during the Veteran's Day assembly each year

[Grant has a nightmare] Subordinate--"Sir, was your nightmare about the untold horrors you say in the civil war or the war with Mexico?" Grant--"No, no, waiting for a train in Panama during rainy season, the true face of horror!"

One of the things they did to get rid of the mosquitoes was to put a layer of oil on all standing water. They basically hired these women to go around with these oil cans just to cover water.

I am *so* glad that you do these! Now that History and Discovery are nothing more than bad "reality TV" channels this is the only place I've found where you can *actually* learn history and discover things

I was living on base during the war! Panama was an amazing place to grow up. I’m 37 now, and I still think about it all the time.

As a panamanian im incredibly proud and impressed by this video and the amount of research you brought up on this video.much love

I have Panamanian 🇵🇦cousins. I am from Barbados 🇧🇧. My cousins and my great grandparents left Barbados 🇧🇧 to help build the canal. One of my cousin left Barbados 🇧🇧 in 1885 to Panama 🇵🇦 when the French was building it. I am proud of my family all my Bajan 🇧🇧and Panamanian 🇵🇦family.

This dude should be a narrator for Nat Geo or The History Channel, literally within 1 minute of this video I subscribed

I actually just went through the Panama Canal a couple weeks ago through the Old Locks as part of a cruise. Amazing experience and so cool seeing all of the old locks operating still.

"The Path between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal" by David McCullough is a really good book about building the canal.

Theodore Roosevelt, also known as the guy who scared Dr. Seuss from ever appearing at any sort of public function, for the rest of his life.

I was lucky enough to travel to Panama and spent a wonderful afternoon watching the ships pass through the Pacific locks. Truly an amazing feat of engineering.

My dad was an America soldier in Panama. Met my mom there. They got married, 2 years later I was born there, then moved to the US, and then a month later my dad was sent back to Panama as part of the invasion force.

Great job on touching on the War of Just Cause, the official name of the 1989-90 war in panama. My dad fought in that war and was one of the soldiers who picked through Noriegas home after he was arrested. I remember this stuff vividly as a six year old boy.

As a half American, half Panamanian, thank you for making this video. 😊

During WWII the Japanese designed a huge submarine that could carry a plane. Since they knew that trying to bomb the Panama Canal with planes from a carrier would be impossible due to the US having a surface fleet able to detect a carrier far out of range for planes of a carrier to reach the canal; their plan was to use several of the large undetectable submarines to get close enough to launch planes to bomb the locks. However with the war quickly closing and materials in short supply, this plan did not pan out.

My grandfather was a operating engineer on the project . This would have been in the 20-30s. Before he passed away in 1982. He said it will never be done. There will always be work needed done. He was there a total of 5 years.

Uk DC fans, I feel your pain. Poor John, he never gets the respect he deserves...

Will you do one on the hoover damn and the great wall?

I’ve cruised through the canal and it was amazing, I’m doing a partial canal cruise in January. If you ever get a chance to do it you should.

This was super informative! Always reading and hearing about the Panama Canal, but not really very interested until this! So sad how many people lost their lives. I hope they can rest in peace seeing how all their hard work and suffering has benefitted those in Panama who struggled for so long. I'm gonna share this on Facebook! Thanks so much to Simon & the team who work so hard to give us this amazing info day after day :)

"Charles the numerically confusing" got a genuine laugh. Spot on delivery.

Panamanian here. Nowadays entering the former canal zone is a dramatic change. The look of the place and the architecture are completely different.

From this moment forward, I will only call Nicaragua Nicarag - you - ah

I was stationed there in 88/89. You could see the Mira Flores locks from my barracks room window. Fascinating engineering. The climate is no joke. I caught Leptospirosis in 88. I have seen the remaining bits of the French canal and abandoned rail road equipment in the middle of the jungle.

Another amazing video...the writing, producing and editing is always TOP NOTCH...and again Simon delivers with much class.

yooo, my country is getting so much focus I feel so represented rn this is the weirdest feeling ever

Currently binge watching all of these geographic episodes. This is what the history channel used to be before it became all ancient aliens and junk. Thanks for picking up the slack.

I halfway expected you to gloss over the Constantine reference and boom!

A footnote, if I may. Up until the eve of WWII, the size of the Panama Canal locks pretty much dictated the size of USN warship designs. It was not until the Montana and Midway classes were being designed in the early 1940s that the Navy's Bureau of Construction finally relaxed the restriction. Even today, most USN warship designs fall within the size of the original lock dimensions (not the new locks). A further note: even though the US has relinquished control of the Canal to Panama, don't think for a moment DOD does not have contingency plans, frequently updated, to take control of the Canal in a military emergency, with or without Panamanian cooperation. For that matter, if the Russian, Chinese, even the UK military establishments don't have similar plans, I've badly overestimated them.

I lived in the Panama Canal zone in 1994-1996. I spent a lot of time in actual Panama. I love it and I want to go back again.

ALL HAIL CHARLES.. THE NUMERICALLY CONFUSING!

I read a great book called the Path Between The Seas (by a famous historian whose name I can't recall), and it gave a lot more space to Gorgas's fight against malaria and yellow fever. Gorgas happened to be visiting England when he fell ill and was so famous and respected they gave him a deathbed knighthood.

My dad worked the locks in the late 60s/ early 70s. Thanks for this one!

Loved this video! My father was in the military and we were stationed in Panama for a most of my childhood. I remember when we had to leave because control was handed back over. So many memories and still the best place I've ever been to. Also, fun stupid fact, girl scout cookies that had any chocolate in them could not be sold there because everything was shipped by boat and would melt. No thin mints. 😔

Thanks guys! Another great one. Where the hell do y'all find the time do do do so much good work??

Well done! Thanks for a ride back to 1965 and my 6th grade classroom. Here in California, 6th graders studied Latin American history.

Charles the Numerically Confusing sounds like a monarch I'd vote for.

"charles the numerically confusing" i love it

I went through the Gatun locks and back on a cruise ship. The whole thing is powered by gravity. It really is amazing. The new locks must be even more impressive. It is worth the trip. Especially if you do it on a floating resort. When we were there so much rain had fallen that they opened the spillways for the first time when we were there. We were not able to continue further into the canal because of it. It is one of the most impressive man made structures in the world.

I watch this, TopTenz, Today I Found Out, and Biographics right before I drift off to sleep. I dream in Simon Whistler.

4:37 I think Simon would make an excellent American used car salesman 😀😃😄.

4:12 "I would like you to do us a favor though" -Uncle Sam

McCullough's book on the canal "The Path Between the Seas" is a great reference. It was still great to watch the color pictures and listen to a British dude tell the story. Thanks.

Last time I was this early, Simon had hair.

2:41 - Charles the Numerically Confusing. 😂

1:20 - Chapter 1 - The deathless dream 4:55 - Chapter 2 - 1st attempts 8:35 - Chapter 3 - 1000 days of horror 12:20 - Chapter 4 - Building the dream 16:10 - Chapter 5 - Making the nightmare 19:00 - Chapter 6 - Waking up

"Whaddaya say, son? We got a deal?"

“There’s not a prince in the world that can accomplish this.” Teddy Roosevelt “Hold my beer.”

Did not know the canal’s history went that far back (the 1800’s). Love your channels

The brightest dreams, they don't fade entirely. Well said.

Rainy season in Panama is insane if you're not prepared for it.

With your Panama Canal Hellblazer comment, you have earned a sub. Many thanks for that line!

One of the most underrated channels on KZfaq right here.

Awesome! Waiting for a piece on USA transcontinental Railroad. You folks are amazing.

11:30 rail lines into Panamá had been disabled - owing to the formidable barrier known as the “Darien gap“ there never was - and still is not - a “rail line into Panama“

I see the canal as a joint operation between Panama and the United States. Both nations should be proud of that achievement. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and even bodies, but in the end the whole world is better off for it.

António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão were the first Europeans to discover the Pacific Ocean.

This really is the best channel on KZfaq

Charles the Numerically Confusing. That's precious! I waited for all the engineering details that the title promised, yet, none appeared.

I lived there for a year and met my wife there actually got to travel across a bridge and see the almost 100 year old lock gates at the time in 2010 now they have a bridge over.. truly a once in a lifetime experience... I seen the locks almost everyday for 1 year.. I wish my Panamanian wife and I never moved from there but the money is better here

I first read about the Panama Canal in a Reader’s Digest volume of condensed books. I was a teenager then, I’m not now 👨‍🦳, still have the book. I’ve been telling people for years that an old trawler type boat was the first to transit, usually they laugh. Nowadays it’s more of a deer in headlights look 🤔. Bravo Zulu on the video.

The bit about John Constantine was great. 😂

Hmm, a Biographics on Noriega would be quite interesting. I have an uncle who lived in Panama with his family for awhile (Army). His family moved back to Georgia and he was activated during the Panama crisis.

Charles DoubleKing. Charles the Numerically Confusing. I love this channel.

I could listen to this guy like.......all day

The Panama Canal was also the biggest giveaway in history. Thanks Jimmy Carter...

Thank you Simon. Love your voice. You should be higher in TV. A natural. Cheers

Fabulous history lesson.

I like the channel, but i must say its a bit weird to have a video about the "greatest engineering" project without ever mentioning the actual engineering challenges! You focussed on the political challenges, and just skipped over the reasons why this project was technically challenging.

Varilla is a bloody impressive guy. Like, damn man.

I spend my free time watching Simon's videos looking for the artistic liberties in the captioning

Charles the numerical confusing 😂😂

You should do a episode about the Canadian railroad through the Rockies mountains

De Balboa maybe was the first European who set eyes on the Pacific Ocean on its East Coast. But certainly there where some European merchants in the medieval period who traveled to China and saw the ocean from that side.

Panama is my favorite Latin America country. Anyone considering a vacation or trip to Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico, should consider Panama. Worth it!

Thank you for reminding me how depressed I get when I realize they're not making a Constantine sequel. Man I love that movie.

I went through it twice and never saw it. I was stuck in the engine room. :( At least I'm in the Order of the Ditch!

"How dare you control something you paid for and built inside the country that only exists because of said thing!" - Panama

This is a fantastic film. I wondered if you had it right about Gorgas though. I had always been told it was Sir Ronald Ross who did the pioneering work on the link between malaria and mosquitoes. There are records of his notebooks on this from 1897, so before the time that Gorgas was working on draining the canal etc.

Simon Whistler you are undoubtedly the Best at what you do... Keep it up brother...love from Russia

this is always such a fasinating story

"Charles the numerically confusing" good one Simon

Love all your channels Simon. Great presentation and well researched informative topics of interest to my curiosity 👌👍

Over the last week I've grown to like the style this channel has. I thought the subject of this video would be great based on what I already knew of it. The DC crossover joke got a like and subscribe from me, sir.

Great video Simon Thank you