Panama Canal
France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan.
María de la Ossa de Amador
When the French company that owned the rights to build the Panama Canal went bankrupt, the United States bought the rights to build the canal in 1902. Contentious negotiations with Colombia led the United States to back the separatist movement in Panama, believing that negotiations would be more favorable to American interests from a small, weak newly developing state. To that end, Amador traveled to New York in September 1903 to work out how the United States was willing to support their separation movement. He returned to Panama to put plans in motion and asked his son, Manuel Encarnación to design the flag for the new nation. The design was completed on 1 November and de la Ossa and her sister-in-law Angélica Bergamonta de la Ossa, Jerónimo's wife, purchased the blue, red, and white fabrics from three different warehouses in Panama City, so as not to arouse suspicion. Having secured sufficient fabric to make two flags, the women worked through the night on 2 November using a portable sewing machine to complete the flag. A third, smaller flag was made of the fabric remnants by María Emilia, Angélica's daughter and the women were assisted by de la Ossa's domestic helper, Águeda.