For 100th Anniversary, plaque commemorates British West Indian contribution to Panama Canal
As the Panama Canal this year marks 100 years of operation, Caribbean Community workers who provided the bulk of the labour for its construction have been memorialized with a bronze plaque to be permanently displayed at the entrance to the Canal’s Miraflores Locks Visitor Centre.
The plaque was presented by British Foreign Office Minister for Latin America Hugo Swire at a recent ceremony involving Caribbean people in Panama. The then British West Indies, particularly Jamaica and Barbados, provided large numbers of workers for the three phases of the Canal construction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with an estimated 20,000 travelling from Barbados.
The Panama Canal boosted global trade by shortening the shipping route between Asia and the Eastern US seaboard and Western Europe.