| Conquest of Constantinople by Turks |
1453 |
| Columbus discovers Bay of Limon |
1492 |
| Rodrigo de Bastidas, Balboa, and La Cosa reach the Isthmus |
1500 |
| Columbus's Fourth Voyage, vainly seeks the strait |
1502 |
| Balboa sights the Pacific |
Sept. 25, 1513 |
| Pedrarias founds the old town of Panama |
1519 |
| Magellan discovers the straits that bear his name |
1519-21 |
| Gonzalez de Avila discovers Lake Nicaragua |
1522 |
| The quest of Isthmian Strait given up as hopeless |
circa 1532 |
| Gomara appeals to Charles V. to construct canal |
1551 |
| Drake sights the Pacific |
1573 |
| Philip III. directs surveys for Darien Canal |
1616 |
| English seize Jamaica |
1655 |
| Henry Morgan destroys old Panama |
1671 |
| Paterson's settlement at Panama |
1698 |
| Spanish surveys of Tehuantepec and Nicaragua |
1771 and 1779 |
| Von Humboldt's residence in Central America |
1799-1804 |
| Panama declares its independence and joins New Granada |
1822 |
| Overtures made by Central America to United States for canal |
1825 |
| Goethe's prophecies |
1827 |
| Dutch canal concession from Nicaraguan Government, 1829; abandoned |
1830 |
| British Honduras annexed by Great Britain |
1835 |
| United States Treaty with New Granada |
1846 |
| Clayton-Bulwer Treaty |
1850 |
| Panama Railway opened to traffic |
1855 |
| Dickinson-Ayon Treaty between United States and Nicaragua |
1868 |
| President Grant recommends canal under United States control |
1869 |
| Apppoints Interoceanic Canal Commission |
1869 |
| Suez Canal opened |
1869 |
| La Société Civile Internationale du Canal Interocéanique founded |
1876 |
| Grant's Commission reports in favour of Nicaraguan route |
1876 |
| The De Lesseps Company formed |
1878 |
| Company starts work |
1881 |
| Bankruptcy of French company |
1889 |
| New Panama Company formed |
1889 |
| Construction work at Nicaragua |
1890-3 |
| Ferdinand de Lesseps died |
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