Even before the canal’s completion in 1914, publishers issued new guidebooks to Panama. This first edition of The Canal Zone Pilot provided a business directory and other information for travelers. It presented the history of the isthmus and the canal project, including Congress’s role in acquiring the New Panama Canal Company and rights in perpetuity to the Canal Zone.
General Collections, Library of Congress
Canal Zone Pilot: Guide to the Republic of Panama, by William C. Haskins, 1908
Exploring Panama
The Panama Canal awakened widespread interest in the region, but it was not only tourists who were curious. The United States had rights to control the Canal Zone in perpetuity under the 1904 treaty with Panama, and in 1923 scientists founded a biological laboratory there. Under a new treaty, ratified in 1978 with the consent of the U.S. Senate, the United States returned the zone to Panama in 1979. Yet the laboratory––now named the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute––continues its important work, expanding our understanding of biodiversity.
Even before the canal’s completion in 1914, publishers issued new guidebooks to Panama. This first edition of The Canal Zone Pilot provided a business directory and other information for travelers. It presented the history of the isthmus and the canal project, including Congress’s role in acquiring the New Panama Canal Company and rights in perpetuity to the Canal Zone.
General Collections, Library of Congress
