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Glite Dictionary
Canal Zone

Canal Zone

1 7.2
A strip of land across Panama with the Panama Canal that the United States once ran
  • proper noun
  • /kəˈnæl zoʊn/
translation icon : Zona del Canal
  • RAY: Since 1903, the Canal Zone was a U.S.-controlled territory right in the heart of Panama.
  • Panama Canal Zone
  • the old Canal Zone
  • Canal Zone residents

Examples

  • In the Canal Zone, everything was owned and operated by the US Dept. of Defense.

    Blog text (13)

  • We have no more right or reason for giving away the Panama Canal Zone than we would to now give away Alaska.

    Hands of Stone (2016)

  • Americans could live in the Canal Zone without learning Spanish or, for that matter, leaving the area.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Panama has lost opportunities to make better use of the land and facilities in the old Canal Zone.

    Academic text (1993)

  • By the 1940s, there was a healthy second generation of Panama-born Canal Zone residents.

    Academic text (1992)

  • During the initial decades of American control, Panamanians were generally excluded from employment and residence in the Canal Zone.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Instead, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty pointedly directed the United States to exercise governance only in the Canal Zone.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Thus, the Canal Zone became a racially and socially segregated enclave, set apart from Panama.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The apparent scientific basis of environmental determinism provided both American policymakers and American Canal Zone residents with an acceptable explanation and rationalization for imperialism in Panama.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Many American families lived in the Canal Zone during the construction of the Panama Canal.

Surface Forms

Canal Zone main

Morphology

canal + zone

The noun phrase is compositionally clear: a B1 learner who knows 'canal' and 'zone' can infer it refers to an area or region associated with a canal. However, the precise historical/political referent (the Panama Isthmus territory formerly administered by the United States) is not derivable from the constituents alone, so full understanding requires extra background knowledge.

Etymology

Canal Zone comes from a long strip of land set aside for the Panama Canal; a canal is a man-made waterway and a zone is a 'special area'. Because the United States ran and guarded that strip for many years, Canal Zone came to mean the land in the narrow part of Panama that the United States 'controlled'.