Question 1

True or false: Over 25,000 workers died during the French and American construction of the canal.

Accepted Answer

True. Disease and accidents killed an estimated 25,000–30,000 workers, mostly during the failed French effort in the 1880s.

Question 2

True or false: The Panama Canal uses a single long sea-level channel with no locks.

Accepted Answer

False. It's a lock-based canal with three sets of locks (Gatun, Pedro Miguel, Miraflores) to lift ships 85 feet above sea level.

Question 3

True or false: The Panama Canal opened in 1914, the same year World War I began.

Accepted Answer

True. The canal officially opened on August 15, 1914, just weeks after the outbreak of WWI, which overshadowed the celebration.

Question 4

True or false: The first ship to transit the Panama Canal was a U.S. battleship.

Accepted Answer

False. The first ship was the SS Ancon, a cargo and passenger vessel, not a warship. The USS Oregon had made an earlier partial transit.

Question 5

True or false: The canal was originally built by Colombia before the U.S. took over.

Accepted Answer

False. Colombia controlled Panama but never built the canal. France started it, then the U.S. finished it after Panama's independence.

Question 6

True or false: The Panama Canal was completed two years ahead of schedule.

Accepted Answer

False. It opened a year behind schedule due to landslides, disease, and engineering challenges. Original target was 1913.

Question 7

True or false: A U.S. ship paid the lowest toll ever through the canal: just 36 cents.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1928, Richard Halliburton swam the canal and was charged 36 cents per ton, totaling 36 cents for his 165-pound body.

Question 8

True or false: The canal's construction required moving enough earth to bury Manhattan 12 feet deep.

Accepted Answer

True. Excavators removed about 200 million cubic yards of earth and rock—enough to cover Manhattan Island 12 feet deep.

Opening of Panama Canal Trivia Questions