The 2014 centennial of the beginning of World War I was commemorated with events-symposia, exhibits, theatrical presentations, re-enactments, and concerts-the world over. The Flanders region of Belgium, especially Ypres (where three battles took place), was a particular focus of such efforts.
On a more joyful note, on August 15, 2014, the citizens of Panama celebrated the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal. The gala event was attended by descendants of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French engineer who oversaw the first attempt to construct the canal, and of Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. president under whose watch work began on the project.
The world had experienced significant changes in transportation technology during the previous century, yet on the day marking its opening 100 years earlier, the operation of the Panama Canal was fundamentally the same as it had been when the first ship had passed through it. The canal remained, however, one of the most important and vital strategic links for world nautical transportation.
Picture Credit : Google