巴拿马运河最早不是由美国开凿。19世纪末,一家法国公司跟哥伦比亚签订了合同.打算在哥伦比亚的巴拿马省境内开一条连通大西洋和太平洋的运河。主持运河工程的总工程师就是因开凿苏伊士运河而闻名世界的法国人雷赛布,他自以为这一工程不在话下,然而巴拿马环境与苏伊士有很大的不同,工程进度很慢, The earliest Panama Canal was not drilled by the United States. At the end of the 19th century, a French company signed a contract with Colombia, intending to open a canal connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific in the province of Panama in Colombia. The chief engineer who presided over the canal project was the French-born Leibaibu, famous for its operation of the Suez Canal. He thought that this project would not be an issue. However, the environment in Panama is very different from that in Suez, and the progress of the project is slow.