Philippe Bunau-varilla

The Great Adventure of Panama (Dodo Press) Philippe Bunau-varilla

Lieut. -Colonel Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla (1859-1940) commonly referred to as simply Philippe Bunau-Varilla, was a French engineer and soldier. With the assistance of American lobbyist and lawyer William Nelson Cromwell, Bunau-Varilla greatly influenced the United States's decision concerning the construction site for the famed Panama Canal. He also worked closely with United States president Theodore Roosevelt in the latter's orchestration of the Panamanian Revolution, resulting in Panama's independence from Colombia. In 1862 he abandoned his career in public works at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees and travelled to Panama. He arrived at the isthmus in 1884, newly employed with Ferdinand de Lesseps's Panama Canal Company. He incessantly promoted the construction of the canal. He eventually persuaded the government to select Panama as the canal site, as opposed to the popular alternative - Nicaragua. As Panama's Ambassador to the United States, he entered into negotiations with the American Secretary of State John Hay, establishing the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, which gave control of the Panama Canal to the U. S..