ORIGINAL ANTIQUE MAP NAUTICAL CHART Central America Approaches Panama Canal

Description

ANTIQUE ORIGINAL MAPTERRITORY NAUTICAL CHART
[Thismap is not a reproduction or from a scan, and it's printed on a thick papermatting surface. My Map collection, passed down by my grandfather, has beenstored flat and folded]
Central America Canal Zone Pacific Coast
Approaches to Panama Canal
Tortola Island, Taboga, Urava, Taboguilla, Flamenco Island, Naos Island, Perico Island, Culebra Island, Balboa, Farfan River
See Photos for condition.
The
Panama Canal
(Spanish:
Canal de Panamá
) is an artificial 82 km (51 mi) waterway in
Panama
that connects the
Atlantic Ocean
with the
Pacific Ocean
and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the
Isthmus of Panama
and is a
conduit
for maritime trade. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous
Cape Horn
route around the southernmost tip of South America via the
Drake Passage
or
Strait of Magellan
and the even less popular route through the
Arctic Archipelago
and the
Bering Strait
.
Colombia
, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped because of lack of investors' confidence due to engineering problems and a high worker
mortality rate
. The United States took over the project on May 4, 1904, and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. The US continued to control the canal and surrounding
Panama Canal Zone
until the 1977
Torrijos–Carter Treaties
provided for handover to Panama. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government in 1999. It is now managed and operated by the government-owned
Panama Canal Authority
.
Canal locks
at each end lift ships up to
Gatun Lake
, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 metres (85 ft)
above sea level
, and then lower the ships at the other end. The original locks are 33.5 metres (110 ft) wide. A
third, wider lane of locks
was
constructed
between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded waterway began commercial operation on June 26, 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger,
New Panamax
ships.
[1]
Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in 1914, when the canal opened, to 14,702 vessels in 2008, for a total of 333.7 million
Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tons
. By 2012, more than 815,000 vessels had passed through the canal.
[2]
In 2017 it took ships an average of 11.38 hours to pass between the canal's two locks.
[3]
The
American Society of Civil Engineers
has ranked the Panama Canal one of the
seven wonders of the modern world
.
[4]
Tortola
/
t
ɔːr
ˈ
t
oʊ
l
ə
/
is the largest and most populated of the
British Virgin Islands
, a group of islands that form part of the
archipelago
of the
Virgin Islands
.
[2]
It has a
surface area
of 55.7 square kilometres (21.5 square miles) with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in
Road Town
.
Mount Sage
is its highest point at 530 metres (1,740 feet)
above sea level
.
Although the British Virgin Islands (BVI) are under the British flag, it uses the U.S. dollar as its official currency due to its proximity to and frequent trade with the U.S. Virgin Islands and
Puerto Rico
. The island is home to many
offshore companies
that do business worldwide.
Financial services
are a major part of the country's economy.
On 6 September 2017, the
British Virgin Islands
were extensively damaged by
Hurricane Irma
.
[3]
The most severe destruction was on Tortola. News reports over the next day or two described the situation as "devastation".
Isla Culebra
(
Spanish pronunciation:
[kuˈleβɾa]
,
Snake Island
) is an island,
town
and
municipality
of
Puerto Rico
and geographically part of the
Spanish Virgin Islands
. It is located approximately 17 miles (27 km) east of the Puerto Rican mainland, 12 miles (19 km) west of
St. Thomas
and 9 miles (14 km) north of
Vieques
. Culebra is spread over 5 barrios and
Culebra Pueblo (Dewey)
, the main town and the administrative center of the island. Residents of the island are known as c
ulebrenses
. With a population of 1,792 as of the 2020 Census, it is Puerto Rico's least populous municipality.
[3]
Originally called
Isla del Pasaje
and
Isla de San Ildefonso
, Culebra is also known as
Isla Chiquita
("Little Island"),
Cuna del Sol Borincano
("Cradle of the Puerto Rican Sun") and
Última Virgen
("Last Virgin", due to its position at the end of the
Virgin Islands
archipelago).