When people tell the story of the Panama Canal, the names that usually dominate the conversation are French and American. Ferdinand de Lesseps and the disastrous French attempt. Theodore Roosevelt and the American takeover. George Goethals and the enormous engineering effort. William Gorgas and the campaign against yellow fever and malaria.
But there is another group whose story is woven deeply into Panama's history: the Chinese.
Their contribution is sometimes misunderstood. It would be inaccurate to say that Chinese workers built the Panama Canal, because the workforce that constructed the American canal was overwhelmingly drawn from the Caribbean, particularly Barbados, along with workers from many other countries. However, Chinese migrants played an important role in the much longer history of building transportation infrastructure across the Isthmus, and their presence in Panama dates back to the 1850s.
In many ways, the Chinese story begins before there was even a serious possibility of a modern Panama Canal.
The Panama Railroad Came First
During the 1850s, Panama was experiencing one of the most extraordinary transportation projects in the Americas. The California Gold Rush had created an enormous demand for a faster route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Travelling around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America could take months. Crossing the United States overland was difficult and dangerous. But Panama offered a remarkable shortcut.
The idea was simple. Ships could reach the Caribbean side of Panama, passengers and cargo could cross the Isthmus by railway, and ships waiting on the Pacific side could continue the journey.
The problem was actually building the railway.
Panama was an extraordinarily difficult place for nineteenth century construction. There were dense forests, swamps, steep terrain, enormous rainfall and tropical diseases. Workers faced conditions that were completely unfamiliar to many of the people arriving from overseas.
The Panama Railroad Company therefore recruited workers from around the world.
Among them were Chinese labourers.
In 1854, a group of more than 700 Chinese workers arrived in Panama aboard the ship Sea Witch. They had been recruited to work on the railroad. Their journey from China was extremely long, lasting roughly two months, and several died before they even reached the Isthmus.
Once they arrived, the conditions became even more difficult.
The Railroad Was a Brutal Undertaking
The Panama Railroad was eventually completed in 1855, becoming one of the most remarkable railways of its era.
But the human cost was enormous.
Workers had to clear dense vegetation, drain swamps, move earth and construct bridges and tracks through a landscape that seemed determined to defeat them. Disease was a constant threat, and nineteenth century medicine had little ability to protect workers from malaria and yellow fever.
The Chinese workers were particularly vulnerable because they were thousands of kilometres from home and operating within an unfamiliar tropical environment.
Some historical accounts describe severe psychological suffering among Chinese labourers, including suicides. There were also deaths from disease, exhaustion and poor living conditions.
It is important to remember this when looking at Panama's history today. Modern visitors can cross the Isthmus in comfort within hours, but in the nineteenth century, simply surviving the journey could be an enormous challenge.
The railroad itself became a tremendous success.
And that railroad would eventually become one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in the history of the Panama Canal.
The Railway Helped Make the Canal Possible
This connection is one of the most fascinating parts of the story.
When the Americans began their canal project in 1904, they were not starting from nothing.
There was already a railway crossing Panama.
The Panama Railroad could transport workers, machinery, food, construction materials and other supplies between the Atlantic and Pacific sides. It became an essential part of the American canal construction operation.
This means that the Chinese workers who helped construct the railroad were part of the much earlier foundation upon which the canal project was eventually built.
They did not dig the famous Culebra Cut during the American construction period, nor did they build the enormous locks at Gatún, Miraflores and Pedro Miguel.
But they helped build the transportation system that made moving people and materials across Panama possible.
The canal story therefore cannot really be separated from the railroad story.
The Chinese and the French Canal Attempt
The Chinese connection to the Isthmus continued into the period when the French attempted to construct a canal.
After Ferdinand de Lesseps became famous for his success with the Suez Canal, he turned his attention toward Panama. The French began their enormous project in the 1880s, hoping to cut a sea level canal through the Isthmus.
Thousands of workers arrived from different parts of the world.
Chinese labourers were among them.
The French project was an extraordinary undertaking, but it became a catastrophe. Engineers underestimated the difficulty of excavating through Panama's mountains and underestimated the enormous impact of tropical disease.
The workers were fighting mud, landslides, torrential rain and enormous quantities of earth.
But their most dangerous enemy was something they could barely see.
Mosquitoes.
At the time, scientists had not yet fully established that mosquitoes were responsible for transmitting yellow fever and malaria. Workers could therefore become desperately sick without anyone fully understanding why.
Thousands died.
The Chinese workers were among the many communities caught up in this tragedy.
Disease Changed the History of Panama
The story of disease is one of the most important parts of the canal's history.
Yellow fever could sweep through a camp and kill workers with terrifying speed. Malaria was another constant threat.
The French eventually collapsed financially and abandoned their project.
When the United States took over the canal effort in 1904, one of its most important priorities was not simply digging.
It was controlling disease.
Dr. William Gorgas and his teams launched an enormous campaign against mosquitoes. Standing water was drained, buildings were screened, breeding grounds were eliminated and sanitation was dramatically improved.
These measures transformed the working environment.
The American canal project could succeed partly because it had learned one of the most painful lessons from the French experience.
The workers could not simply fight the jungle.
They had to fight the mosquitoes living in it.
Why Caribbean Workers Became So Important
There is sometimes confusion about how many Chinese workers actually participated in the American construction of the canal.
The answer is that Chinese workers were not the dominant labour force during the American construction period.
The United States relied heavily on workers from the Caribbean.
Barbados became particularly important. Thousands of Barbadian workers came to Panama, and workers also arrived from other Caribbean islands.
The Panama Canal Authority estimates that nearly half of the approximately 45,000 people involved in canal construction between 1904 and 1914 came from the British West Indies.
Barbadians alone accounted for approximately 20,000 workers.
This Caribbean contribution is enormous and deserves recognition in its own right.
So when discussing the Chinese contribution, it is better to understand it as part of the larger history of Chinese migration and infrastructure construction in Panama, rather than claiming that Chinese workers formed the principal workforce that excavated the American canal.
The Chinese Were Building More Than Infrastructure
Perhaps the most lasting Chinese contribution to Panama was not measured in railway tracks or cubic metres of earth.
It was measured in communities.
Many Chinese immigrants remained in Panama after their work was finished.
They opened small stores and businesses. They established families. They created communities and became part of Panama's growing commercial economy.
The small Chinese owned shops that eventually became familiar throughout Panama have deep historical roots.
For generations, these businesses became an important part of everyday life.
A person living in Panama could buy groceries, household supplies and countless other necessities from a Chinese owned shop located in their neighbourhood.
The Chinese community therefore became much more than a temporary labour force.
It became part of Panama.
Panama City and the Chinese Community
The Chinese presence became especially visible in Panama City.
Chinese immigrants and their descendants established businesses, restaurants and commercial enterprises throughout the city. Over generations, Chinese Panamanians became involved in practically every part of economic and professional life.
Chinese food also became part of Panama's culinary landscape.
Panamanian Chinese cuisine developed its own identity, influenced by Chinese traditions but adapted to local ingredients and tastes.
This is something visitors sometimes notice without realizing how old the connection actually is.
A plate of Chinese influenced food in Panama is not necessarily an entirely foreign culinary experience.
It is part of a culture that has been developing in Panama for generations.
The "Panama Villages" of China
The migration became so significant that certain communities in southern China developed connections with Panama strong enough to earn informal associations with the country.
People from Guangdong and surrounding areas left China for Panama during different periods of migration.
Some eventually returned to China with money and stories from the other side of the world.
Others stayed permanently.
This created a remarkable two way connection between Panama and southern China that continued for generations.
For many families, Panama became part of their family's identity even if later generations were born thousands of kilometres away from China.
The Canal and the Modern Chinese Connection
There is another reason the Chinese contribution has become especially interesting today.
China's economic presence around the Panama Canal has received enormous international attention.
But it is important not to confuse this modern situation with the nineteenth century history of Chinese immigration.
The Chinese workers who arrived in Panama in the 1850s were immigrants and labourers.
Modern Chinese companies operating around Panama are part of a completely different economic and geopolitical story.
For example, Hutchison Ports, part of the Hong Kong based CK Hutchison group, has operated the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal since the 1990s.
The Panama Canal itself, however, is controlled and operated by Panama through the Panama Canal Authority.
The historical Chinese presence in Panama therefore long predates today's geopolitical debates about China and the canal.
A Story That Often Gets Overshadowed
The Panama Canal is so famous that it is easy to reduce its history to a few names.
Ferdinand de Lesseps.
Theodore Roosevelt.
George Goethals.
William Gorgas.
But none of these people physically moved every shovel of earth.
The canal was created by an enormous international workforce.
Caribbean workers, Europeans, Americans, Panamanians and people from many other parts of the world all became part of the story.
And before the great canal construction effort, Chinese workers had already been struggling through the Panamanian jungle to build the railroad.
Their story therefore occupies a unique position.
They were part of the prehistory of the canal.
From Chinese Labourers to Chinese Panamanians
Perhaps the most remarkable part of the story is what happened after the construction projects ended.
Many immigrant groups arrived in Panama temporarily because of infrastructure projects.
The Chinese community became something different.
People stayed.
They established businesses.
They raised children.
Their descendants became Panamanians.
The community survived political changes, economic crises and enormous transformations in Panama.
Today, Chinese Panamanians are an established and highly visible part of the country's multicultural society.
That legacy began with people who arrived during a very different Panama, when the country was still part of Colombia and the idea of digging a canal across the Isthmus was largely an enormous and uncertain dream.
The Hidden Human Story Beneath the Canal
Today, ships pass through the Panama Canal carrying enormous quantities of cargo between oceans.
Tourists stand at the locks and watch ships rise and fall.
Modern visitors can look at the canal and see an extraordinary piece of engineering.
But the canal is also a monument to migration.
People came from China.
They came from Barbados and other Caribbean islands.
They came from Europe and North America.
They came from elsewhere in Latin America.
They came looking for work, opportunity and sometimes simply a way to survive.
Some became rich.
Some became successful businessmen.
Some stayed and built families.
And many died.
The Chinese contribution is therefore not simply a story about how many workers dug how many metres of earth. It is a story about how migration helped transform Panama long before the canal was completed.
The Chinese arrived to help build a railroad across the Isthmus. That railroad became an essential part of the infrastructure used during the canal era. Some Chinese workers later participated in the French canal effort, while generations of Chinese immigrants went on to establish businesses and communities that remain part of Panama today.
So when looking across the waters of the Panama Canal, it is worth remembering that the story began long before the locks opened.
The canal was not built by one country, one race or one generation. It was the product of an enormous international human effort, and the Chinese story is one of the older and more fascinating chapters in Panama's remarkable transformation.