Panama Separates from Colombia
In November 1903, Panama declared its independence from Colombia with the backing of the United States. Within days, the new republic signed a treaty granting the Americans rights to build and control a canal across the isthmus. The episode opened the way for one of the great engineering projects of the age, and it became a lasting symbol of the interventionist style of American policy in Latin America.
Panama had been part of Colombia since the early nineteenth century, first as a department of Gran Colombia and later of the Republic of Colombia. Its location made it strategically valuable, and its relationship with Bogotá was often strained, with several separatist uprisings during the 1800s. A French company led by Ferdinand de Lesseps began a canal in the 1880s but collapsed amid financial scandal, engineering difficulties, and the toll of tropical disease. By 1900, the United States, eager to link its Atlantic and Pacific coasts for commercial and naval reasons, had taken a strong interest, and Congress eventually settled on Panama rather than a route through Nicaragua.
Washington negotiated with Colombia, and in 1903 the two governments agreed on the Hay–Herrán Treaty, which would have leased a canal zone to the United States. The Colombian Senate rejected it, in part because members wanted better financial terms and were wary of ceding sovereignty. President Theodore Roosevelt was furious. Meanwhile, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a French engineer with a stake in the old canal company's assets, lobbied American officials and encouraged Panamanian leaders to rebel.
The revolt began on 3 November 1903 and was largely bloodless. American warships appeared off the coast, and US forces discouraged Colombian troops from moving across the isthmus to suppress the uprising. Washington recognized Panama within days. Bunau-Varilla, who had been named Panama's representative in Washington, then negotiated the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, which gave the United States control of a Canal Zone in perpetuity. Panamanian delegates had not helped draft it, and many Panamanians later resented its terms.
The canal opened in 1914 and transformed global shipping. The Canal Zone, however, became a source of enduring friction, as American control of a strip through the heart of Panama clashed with Panamanian nationalism. Riots in 1964 were a notable flashpoint. Colombia long considered the affair a humiliating act of foreign aggression, and the United States later paid it compensation under a 1921 treaty. After years of negotiation, the Torrijos–Carter Treaties of 1977 set the canal's transfer to Panama, which was completed at the end of 1999.
Historians still debate how much the revolt was a genuine Panamanian movement and how much an American-engineered affair, though most agree that US support was decisive.