Treaties and Tensions
This 1846 treaty allowed U.S. military intervention in the Isthmus to “guarantee neutrality.”
What is the Mallarino-Bidlack Treaty?
This 1856 incident began with a slice of watermelon and ended with U.S. troops landing in Panama.
What is the Watermelon War?
This Indigenous leader fought in the Thousand Days’ War and was later executed in 1903.
Who is Victoriano Lorenzo?
He signed the Salgar-Wyse treaty on behalf of French canal investors.
Who is Lucien Napoléon Bonaparte Wyse?
This 1850 treaty tried to limit U.S. and British rivalry by banning exclusive control of the canal zone.
What is the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty?
The U.S. cited this treaty as justification for repeated interventions in Panama between 1846–1903.
What is the Mallarino-Bidlack Treaty?
He was falsely blamed for the burning of Colón.
Who is Pedro Prestán?
He was the liberal general who continued fighting for Indigenous and rural communities during the Thousand Days’ War.
Who is Victoriano Lorenzo?
This 1878 agreement gave French investors the right to build a canal for 99 years.
What is the Salgar-Wyse Treaty?
This U.S. interest grew stronger after the failure of the French canal project.
What is building an interoceanic canal?
This country intervened militarily during Prestán’s uprising, supporting the Conservative government.
What is the United States?
His misrepresentation as a criminal in early 20th-century schoolbooks erased his legacy for years.
Who is Pedro Prestán?
This treaty, signed in 1903, gave the U.S. the right to build and control the Panama Canal after separation from Colombia.
What is the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty?
The U.S. disembarked troops in Panama during this 3-year civil conflict in Colombia to “protect the railroad.”
What is the Thousand Days' War?
Victoriano Lorenzo fought for this group, led by Belisario Porras, during the Thousand Days' War.
Who are the Liberals?
He expressed U.S. interest in an interoceanic route as early as 1787.
Who is Thomas Jefferson?