Which two oceans are linked by the Panama Canal?

The Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The canal crosses Panama at one of the narrowest points between the Caribbean Sea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Ships enter through locks, rise to the level of Gatun Lake, cross the continental divide, and then descend through another set of locks. It opened to commercial traffic on 15 August 1914.

The canal greatly shortened many sea routes. A ship travelling between New York and San Francisco could avoid the long journey around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America. The waterway is not a simple sea-level trench: its lock system lifts and lowers vessels between ocean level and the artificial lake.

The United States controlled the canal zone for much of the twentieth century. Panama assumed full control on 31 December 1999, under the Torrijos–Carter Treaties.