<P> The idea of the Panama canal dates back to the 1513 discovery of the isthmus by Vasco Núñez de Balboa . The narrow land bridge between North and South America houses the Panama Canal, a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans . The earliest European colonists recognized this potential, and several proposals for a canal were made . </P> <P> By the late nineteenth century, technological advances and commercial pressure allowed construction to begin in earnest . Noted canal engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps led an initial attempt by France to build a sea - level canal . Beset by cost overruns due to the severe underestimation of the difficulties in excavating the rugged Panama land, heavy personnel losses in Panama due to tropical diseases, and political corruption in France surrounding the financing of the massive project, the project succeeded in only partially completing the canal . </P> <P> Interest in a U.S. - led canal effort picked up as soon as France abandoned the project . Initially, the Panama site was politically unfavorable in the U.S. for a variety of reasons, including the taint of the failed French efforts and the Colombian government's unfriendly attitude towards the U.S. continuing the project . The U.S. first sought to construct a completely new canal through Nicaragua instead . </P>

What nation had tried to build a canal prior to the attempt by the united states