111 years ago today, on August 15, 1914 (June 24, 1914 lunar calendar), the Panama Canal began to be navigated. The Panama Canal began to be navigated on August 15, 1914. It took more than 300 years from the 16th century when the idea of building a canal in Central America was put forward, to the 1914 when the United States built the canal into navigation. Due to the important economic and military significance of the Panama Canal, imperialists have attempted to seize control of the canal. In 1878, the French took the lead and obtained the canal's construction rights from Colombia, and began construction in 1883. Although the construction was carried out for more than 10 years, it was stopped in 1889 due to financial and technical difficulties. In 1902, the United States bought all the rights to the French Panama Canal Company. The United States continued construction from 1904 until it was completed in 1914.? After the opening of the Panama Canal, the voyage between the east and west coasts of the United States was shortened, and the distance between New York and San Francisco was shortened by more than 7,800 nautical miles, which brought great benefits to the military aggression and foreign trade of the United States, especially the control and expansion of Latin America. Economically, the United States made huge profits through this canal. From 1960 to 1970, the voyage fee was 757 million US dollars, which is not to mention the more than 5 billion US dollars saved by American ships due to the shortened voyage through the canal, and the huge benefits that the United States received from other aspects of the canal. The canal rent paid by the United States to Panama was very small. Due to the struggle of the Panamanian people, although it was increased several times, it was only 1.93 million dollars per year. At the same time, the Panamanian people suffered endless disasters and sufferings during the construction of the canal, and about 70,000 workers died in the project. Therefore, some people at that time called the banks of the Panama Canal "the banks of death".?