Why does the Panama Canal have canal locks while the Suez Canal doesn’t have any?
In: 2370
Reason 1: connecting the Caribbean and the Pacific even directly would require locks because of sea level difference and tides. This is actually what the French plan for the canal had been.
Reason 2: when the French plan failed (from a lot of people dying during the excavation from malaria and other tropical diseases), the US eventually took on the project and decided that instead of digging a trench straight through a mountain range covered in rain forest and prone to landslides when destabilized by digging, they’d just go over it. So both sides of the canal go up to Gatun Lake (an artificial lake they made) which is 26 meters above sea level.
They still dug through lots of mountain, but the elevation significantly lessened the risk of landslide and allowed for pathing around some of the worst parts. The Suez didn’t have to deal with this because it’s mostly flat
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