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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. French engineers at Panama look on American colleagues as merely adroit at improvisation, but find making do with what is available under pressure difficult and that Suez was too easy, as warned by whom?
(a) A. G. Menocal.
(b) Gaston Blanchet.
(c) Baron de Lypinay.
(d) Armand Rycus.

2. "The Incredible Task" is the subtitle for Chapter 5 which chronicles the initial years of the Compagnie Universelle, marked by what?
(a) Soaring hopes, misleading propaganda, minimal but economical progress, and reasonable logistical and natural challenges.
(b) Soaring hopes, misleading propaganda, real but costly progress, and massive logistical and natural challenges.
(c) Low hopes, misleading propaganda, minimal and costly progress, and massive logistical and natural challenges.
(d) Cautious hopes, honest promotion, real but costly progress, and massive logistical and natural challenges.

3. What does Theodore Roosevelt state in his first message to Congress is the reason the U.S. must construct a canal in Central America for?
(a) To rival Suez.
(b) For humanitarian reasons.
(c) It is key to U.S. naval supremacy.
(d) For commercial purposes.

4. Which survivors enjoy lifelong immunity from the disease that comes and goes in waves?
(a) Cholera.
(b) Yellow fever.
(c) Chagres fever.
(d) Malaria.

5. In June of 1881, Ferdinand de Lesseps pays Park's price, that has increased $200 per share to $250 cash, consuming how much of the company's resources?
(a) 1/5.
(b) 1/2.
(c) 1/4.
(d) 1/3.

Short Answer Questions

1. John Walker asks Compagnie Nouvelle to verify it's franchises and title in Pa nama in April 1901, gets no reply by June, and has William Cromwell ask directly how much his client wants. They reply how?

2. As Panama shares slip in value by mid-1885, Ferdinand de Lesseps lies to the stockholders stating the task is how far accomplished?

3. A Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama is incorporated on October 20, 1894 and the liquidator extends the Wyse Concession through what year?

4. Panama is divided into how many sections for work purposes?

5. What 1879 Congris International d'Ytudes du Canal Interocyanique delegation drew attention by the maps and plans they brought that had never been seen in Europe before?

Short Essay Questions

1. What takes place in Havana, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War of 1898 that encourages Theodore Roosevelt in his zeal for a canal in Central America?

2. What is the professional path for potential French civil engineers in the 19th-century?

3. Who are the three prominent directors of the Turr Syndicate and what are their backgrounds?

4. As hard as they work, what are some of the problems the French engineers encounter?

5. In Chapter 1 of his book, David McCullough views a number of expeditions that were made in Central America in the early 19th-century looking for the ideal route, but what did he find as common to every canal proposal?

6. Who is Rear Adm. John Grimes Walker?

7. Among the earliest authoritative studies, the Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, published in 1811, is sketchy about a number of things, but is adamant about what?

8. What is notable about the date of October 20, 1893?

9. What does the swindler Cornelius Herz do before he flees to France?

10. What is Colon like, where Ferdinant de Lesseps' entourage begins their journey in Panama?

(see the answer keys)

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