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Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa became the first European to discover that the Isthmus of Panama was just a slim land bridge separating the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
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After no such passage across the isthmus had been found, Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, ordered a survey to determine if one could be built, but the surveyors eventually decided that construction of a ship canal was impossible.
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Captain James Cook was the first European explorer to set foot on Hawaii.
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the islands became united under the rule of a single monarch, King Kamehameha.
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Throughout the 1800s, the United States, which wanted a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific for economic and military reasons, considered Nicaragua a more feasible location than Panama.
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French company led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, a former diplomat who developed Egypt’s Suez Canal, began digging a canal across Panama.
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They struggled for control of Hawaii because David Kalakaua was elected to the Hawaiian throne. King Kalakaua signed a reciprocity treaty with the United States making it possible for sugar to be sold to the U.S. market tax-free
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In the late 1890s Bunau-Varilla began lobbying American lawmakers to buy the French canal assets in Panama, and eventually convinced a number of them that Nicaragua had dangerous volcanoes, making Panama the safer choice.
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The last monarch of Hawaii, Queen Lili'uokalani, was overthrown by party of businessmen, who then imposed a provisional government.
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The Provisional Government then proclaimed Hawaii a republic. Then Republic of Hawaii was officially recognized by the United States.
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The treaty effort was blocked when the Hawaiian Patriotic League, composed of native Hawaiians, successfully petitioned the U.S. Congress in opposition of the treaty
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The explosion of the U.S.S. Maine was a signal of the start of the Spanish American War.
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in the first battle between Spanish and American forces, the u.s commodore Dewey and his Asiatic Squadron defeat the Spanish fleet at manila Bay in the Philippines.
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the U.S congress declares war on Spain
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U.S troops land in Cuba
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U.S forces destroy the Spanish fleet off Santiago Bay Cuba.
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U.S forces defeat the spanish at the battle of san juan heights.
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The Joint Resolution passed and the Hawaiian islands were officially annexed by the United States.
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The Spanish surrenders at Santiago
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The U.S and Spain sign the Protocol of peace, ending hostilities between the two
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The Treaty of Paris is sighed by representatives from the U.S and Spain, after extensive debate the treaty is ratified by the U.S senate.
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The development of the panama canal began with the sighing of the Hay Herman Treaty by the U.S and Colombia.