Panama Canal Ship 1 Centesimo Panama Authentic Coin Money for Jewelry and Craft Making (FAO) (Corn)

Panama Canal Ship 1 Centesimo Panama Authentic Coin Charm for Jewelry and Craft Making (FAO) (Corn)

Commemorative issue: FAO - Food Security
(FAO=Food and Agriculture Organization, of United Nations)

Obverse: A ship in the Panamá canal. A corncob. Legend around, date below.

Lettering: XXI CENTURY FAO FOOD SECURITY
2000

Reverse: Coat of arms of Panamá, value in letters below
Lettering: REPVBLICA-DE-PANAMA
PRO MVNDI BENEFICIO
UN CENTESIMO

Note: The 9 stars represent the 9 provinces of the country at that time (there are now 10).

Features
Issuer Panama
Period Republic (1903-date)
Type Circulating commemorative coin
Year 2000
Value 1 Centésimo de Balboa
0.01 PAB = USD 0.010
Currency Balboa (1904-date)
Composition Aluminium
Weight 1.64 g
Diameter 22.8 mm
Thickness 1.7 mm
Shape Round
Technique Milled
Orientation Medal alignment ↑↑
Number N# 6286
References KM# 132

Wikipedia:
The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82 km (51 mi) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan and the even less popular route through the Arctic Archipelago and the Bering Strait.

Canal locks at each end lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 m (85 ft) above sea level, and then lower the ships at the other end. The original locks are 32.5 m (110 ft) wide. A third, wider lane of locks was constructed between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded waterway began commercial operation on June 26, 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, neo-Panamax ships, capable of handling more cargo.

Colombia, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped because of engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. The US continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for handover to Panama. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government in 1999. It is now managed and operated by the government-owned Panama Canal Authority.

Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in 1914, when the canal opened, to 14,702 vessels in 2008, for a total of 333.7 million Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tons. By 2012, more than 815,000 vessels had passed through the canal. It takes 11.38 hours to pass through the Panama Canal. The American Society of Civil Engineers has ranked the Panama Canal one of the seven wonders of the modern world.