Give geographical reason: Panama Canal is known as the gateway to the Pacific.

Answer: Because it connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean across the Isthmus of Panama.

• The Panama Canal cuts across the narrow Isthmus of Panama in Central America and joins the Caribbean Sea (Atlantic Ocean) to the Pacific Ocean.
• Before it opened in 1914, ships from the east coast of America and Europe had to go round Cape Horn in South America to reach the Pacific.
• The canal shortens the route between New York and San Francisco by thousands of kilometres and saves time and fuel.
• Ships entering the Pacific from the Atlantic side use it, so it is called the gateway to the Pacific.