Panama Canal

flickr/wirralwater

The man-made 77 km (48 mile) Panama Canal changed the course of shipping and travel by connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across a narrow strip of land in Panama. Completed in 1914, the canal enables ships to pass through a series of locks to get from one side to the other and eliminates the need for ships to take the much longer and dangerous route around the tip of South America. Today more than 14,000 ships pass the Panama Canal every year.