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570 General History oj Europe Western, which startled the world in 1838 by steaming from Bristol to New York in fifteen days and ten hours, was a ship of 1378 tons, 212 feet long, with a daily consumption of 36 tons of coal. 1 A commercial map of the world today shows that the globe is crossed in every direction by definite routes which are followed by innumerable freight and passenger steamers passing regularly from one port to another, and few of all these thousands of ships are as small as the famous Great Western. 1034. The Suez Canal completed in 1869. The East and the West have been brought much nearer together by the piercing of the Isthmus of Suez, which formerly barred the way from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean. This enterprise was carried out under the direction of the great French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps. After ten years of work the canal was opened to traffic in November, 1869. 1035. Panama Canal. The construction of a canal through the Isthmus of Panama was undertaken in 1881 by a French com- pany organized by De Lesseps ; but the company failed, and in 1902 the Congress of the United States authorized the President to purchase for forty million dollars the property in which the French investors had sunk so much money. Arrangements with the republic of Colombia for the construction of the canal by the United States having come to naught, the state of Panama, through which the line of the proposed canal passes, seceded from Colombia in 1903, and its independence was immediately recog- nized by President Roosevelt. A treaty in regard to the canal zone was then duly concluded with the new republic, and after some delays the work of the French company was resumed by the United States and practically completed in 1915. 1036. Development of Railroads. Just as the gigantic modern steamship has taken the place of the schooner for the rapid trade of the world, so, on land, the merchandise which used to be l Compare this with the Lnsitania, which had a tonnage of 32,500 tons, engines of 68,000 horse power, was 785 feet long, and carried a supply of over 5000 tons of coal for its journey across the Atlantic, which lasted less than five days. Later vessels have been constructed of over 50,000 tons.