history
The Canal Zone and the Century Sovereignty Cost
The Canal Zone and the Century Sovereignty Cost
The US controlled a ten-mile-wide strip across Panama from 1903 to 1999 — the Canal Zone. The 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties began the transfer. On December 31, 1999, Panama took full control. The Miraflores Museum tells both the engineering and the political story — how a country spent a century reclaiming sovereignty over its own geography.
The former Zone is still visible in the architecture — American military housing, schools, and commissaries now absorbed into the Panamanian landscape. The Panama Canal Museum in Casco Viejo adds the French chapter. The canal that connects two oceans also divided a nation, and understanding Panama means understanding that the engineering marvel and the political wound are the same structure.
