Above: A ship moves into the Miraflores Lock in the Panama Canal. There was serious talk of building a canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans
as early as 1668, 1788 and 1843. The French begun excavating in 1881, and completed about 1/3 of the canal by 1899 after tremendous loss of life. 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 a 1977 treaty provided for
handover to Panama. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government in 1999. New locks for Panamax ships were started
in 2007 and completed in 2016 beside each of the current locks. These new locks are for massive, longer ships that do not fit in the original locks.
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1 to 11 show a ship approaching the Miraflores Locks. The robotic, computer controlled "mule" locomotives pull the ship to prevent it banging on the sides of the canal.
They are called mules because they have replaced what were actual mules over 100 years ago. The water level in the lock on the right is about 8 metres higher than that
of the ship to the left, and 8 metres higher still in the second Miraflores lock. In #8 and #9, the water lowers in the lock on the right to match the water level
from the Pacific Ocean. When completed, the lock gates open and the ship is guided in by the mules in #10 and #11.
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