Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty
The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty () was a treaty signed on November 18, 1903, by the United States and Panama, which established the Panama Canal Zone and the subsequent construction of the Panama Canal. It was named after its two primary negotiators, Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, the French diplomatic representative of Panama, and United States Secretary of State John Hay. Background From 1882, Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had built the Suez Canal, started work on a canal traversing the Isthmus of Panama, which was then part of Colombia. By 1889, with engineering challenges caused by frequent landslides, slippage of equipment and mud, plus disease, the effort failed in bankruptcy. After the collapse of the de Lesseps efforts to build the Panama Canal, Bunau-Varilla became an important shareholder of the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama, which still had the concession, as well as certain valuable assets, for the building of a canal in Panama. The US intent to influence the area, especially the Panama Canal's construction and control, led to the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903 and its establishment as an independent state. The US had negotiated the Hay–Herrán Treaty with Colombia in early 1903 that would give it control of the