Map of a Part of the Isthmus of Darien

Sketch map of the Isthmus of Darién to accompany a report by M. Lucien de Puydt with his views for the possible route of a canal. Original printed colour.



A fairly scathing report in the newspaper Daily Alta California titled "The French Project in Darién" dated 5th February 1870 describes the interest of the United States Government in the potential canal project in Darién stating that the "success of the Suez Canal seems to have inflated French pride that they now consider themselves the canal-builders of the world and, now, having severed one of the most notorious isthmuses of the globe, they propose to so as much by the other one now remaining as a bar between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans". In this report, M. Lucien de Pudyt is mentioned as an agent for the International Canal Company.



The outcome of the Darién canal was unsuccessful - largely due to the Darien Gap and its famously unhospitable terrain.


Original outline colour. [WIND2985]