Panama separates from Colombia

Panama was a department of Colombia until November 3, 1903, when local leaders declared independence in Panama City. A US warship, the USS Nashville, was nearby, and US forces prevented Colombian troops from landing to put down the revolt. The United States recognized Panama on November 6. On November 18 it signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, giving the US a zone about ten miles wide across the isthmus 'in perpetuity' for the canal.¹²

The French had failed to finish a canal in the 1880s. President Theodore Roosevelt wanted the US to build one after the Spanish-American War, and Congress chose Panama over Nicaragua. In August 1903 the Colombian Senate rejected a treaty with the US, wanting more money. Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a French engineer with an interest in the old canal company, lobbied Washington and encouraged the Panamanian rebels. He then signed the treaty for Panama in Washington, before Panamanian delegates arrived.¹²

Panama received 10 million dollars and an annual payment, and Colombia long resented what it saw as theft of its territory; in 1921 the US paid Colombia 25 million dollars. The canal, completed in 1914, made Panama a hub of world trade, but the Canal Zone and US presence caused decades of anger in Panama. Riots in 1964 and years of negotiation led to the Torrijos-Carter treaties of 1977 and the canal's transfer to Panama on December 31, 1999.¹