The narrow land bridge between North and South America offered a unique opportunity to create a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As the technology became available, construction on the canal started with an initial attempt by France to build a sea-level canal. Although their project failed a great amount of excavation was carried out and successfully used by the United States, which completed the present Panama Canal in 1913. (The canal officially opened it in 1914.) Along the way, the state of Panama was created through its separation from Colombia in 1903. Text and image source: Swann Galleries