The French, after the successful completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, had been inspired to tackle the apparently similar project to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and are confident that this can be carried out with little difficulty.

An international company, La Société internationale du Canal interocéanique, had been created In 1876 to undertake the work; two years later, it had obtained a concession from the Colombian government, which controls the land, to dig a canal across the isthmus.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had been in charge of the construction of the Suez Canal, is the figurehead of the scheme.

His enthusiastic leadership, coupled with his reputation as the man who had brought the Suez project to a successful conclusion, has persuaded speculators and ordinary citizens to invest in the scheme, ultimately to the level of almost four hundred million dollars.

However, de Lesseps, despite his previous success, is not an engineer.