1880    Ferdinand de Lesseps begins French construction of the Panama Canal.

1900    The United States and the United Kingdom sign a treaty for the Panama Canal

1902    The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal.

1902    The United States buys the rights to the Panama Canal from France.

1903    The Hay-Herran Treaty, granting the United States the right to build the Panama Canal, is ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Senate would later reject the treaty.

1904    Construction begins by the United States on the Panama Canal.

1906    Theodore Roosevelt is the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country. He did so to inspect progress on the Panama Canal.

1909    Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.

1913    President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal.

1914    The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon.

1977    The Torrijos-Carter Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The United States agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

1979    The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.

1999    The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.