100 Years Panama Canal
The world’s greatest engineering feat
The Panama Canal is a 48-mile (77.1 km) ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade.
One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced the amount of time taken for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via theDrake Passage or Strait of Magellan. The shorter, faster, and safer route to the U.S. West Coast and to nations in and around the Pacific Ocean allowed those places to become more integrated with the world economy.
The approximate time to traverse the canal is between 20 and 30 hours. The building of the canal was completed 401 years after Panama was first crossed by Vasco Núñez de Balboa 1513.
Specifications
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Niue
2014
2 Dollars
Ag.999, pure Silver
50.00 mm
50 grams
Prooflike – partially frosted
only 500 coins
with digital printing 5C on the relief
Obverse
