The French in Panama

This image (ca. 1910-1914) shows abandoned machinery from the French attempt to build

a canal in Panama.

Used in conjunction with a partner module on yellow fever, Environmental History in the Classroom:
Yellow Fever as a Case Study4, this module describes how educators can incorporate a study of disease and empire within the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s) or, as the AP guidelines state, The Emergence of America as a World Power lectures in introductory U.S. history and literature courses. In particular, a class lesson could focus on how the U.S. became involved in Panama, which led to the creation of the canal.

This involvement was not accidental, but the continuation of an international policy that highlighted the acquisition of territories, including Puerto Rico. Of course, these expansionist policies were not without nancial costs and risks.

Along those lines, students could be asked to look at items such as Osterhout's Bocas del Toro (Panama) Yellow Fever Victim List and ask what was the nancial impact of these lost lives? At one point in 1906, the casualty gures became so great that President Theodore Roosevelt visited Panama to quell worker discontent and build con dence in the project (Missal 48). For a solid overview of the Panama project see Alexander Missal's Seaway to the Future (2008).