Nicaragua Canal

Ship canal planned to link the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, superseded by the Panama Canal. It was outlined in 1884 in a treaty between the governments of the USA and Nicaragua. Operations were, however, suspended in 1893, and attention was concentrated on the Panama Canal.

The canal was begun at Greytown near San Juan del Norte, on the border with Costa Rica, in 1889. Its total length would have been about 272 km/169 mi, including Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River; less than 48 km/30 mi would have been excavated. The Nicaragua Canal, although it would have been a longer route, presented fewer difficulties in the way of natural barriers, with fewer rocks to blast. The scheme was abandoned because of political unrest in Nicaragua. In 1916, the US government paid $3 million for the exclusive right to construct a canal route through Nicaragua, and also for naval bases in the Bay of Fonseca on the Pacific coast, and the Corn Islands on the Atlantic coast. The treaty was abrogated in 1970.