The main reason why the Americans wanted the Panama Canal built was

Question 13 options:

to open trade with Panama

to have a naval base in Latin America

to open negotiations with Colombia

to cut travel time from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans

Building the Panama Canal, 1903-1914. President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the realization of a long-term United States goal-a trans-isthmiancanal. Throughout the 1800s, American and British leaders and businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

The main reason why the Americans wanted the Panama Canal built was to cut travel time from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.

Explanation:

The Panama Canal was inaugurated in 1914. Its construction had been started by the French, and when they abandoned the project, the Americans took it in 1903.

The intention of Theodore Roosevelt's government was to shorten travel time and distances between the two coasts of the United States, while creating a fast and accessible connection between both oceans, which would allow America to compete more easily in trade international, also giving a greater capacity to react to the Navy in case of a war.

Until that moment, the sea route that connected both oceans was around the Strait of Magellan, with which the American ships had to surround all South America to get from one ocean to the other.