Slaves and foreigners did not build the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Instead, the pharaohs constructed villages to house full- and part-time employees. Between 20,000 and 30,000 employees built the pyramids using limestone blocks transported via water to the pyramids. Architects used ropes to keep stone positioning accurate, and priest-astronomers maintained constellation alignment. The pyramids ensured the success of the pharaoh in the afterlife, shaped like the sunbeams he would use to travel to the heavens. If the pharaoh was properly provided for in the afterlife, Egypt would prosper.
The first portion of The Great Wall of China was built by its first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huangdi over a period of nine years. Built for protection, it was manned by soldiers who used signal fires to warn of attacking Hsiung Nu tribes. Packed-earth, rocks and masonry comprise the wall, which is more than 4,000 miles long. The original boundaries for the wall came from four fortification walls built around 700 BC. Watch towers and cannons were added during the Ming Dynasty as part of a 200-year renovation. Other parts of the wall were constructed at various points over a 2,000-year period. More than 1 million people died during its construction.
The Panama Canal stretches 51 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. The canal was constructed over two periods totaling 17 years. The French started excavation in 1881 and gave up by 1888. Mosquitoes caused rampant disease among a workforce that was poorly equipped. A tidal lock, which leveled the higher Pacific Ocean with the lower Atlantic Ocean, saved workers from digging another 10 million cubic meters. Water flows into the locks or out to sea using gravity alone. The motors and locomotives of the canal are powered entirely by the Gatun Dam. Americans excavated from 1904 to 1914, the year the canal opened. Today more than 12,000 ships use the canal annually.
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The English Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel, links England and France via a 32-mile tunnel beneath the English Channel. Construction began in 1988 and ended in 1994. The conduit is comprised of three tunnels, two providing ingoing and outgoing transportation, and the the third a service tunnel for escape. A fire ignited inside one tunnel a year after its competition, though the escape route saved all 31 trapped passengers. Trains travel through the tunnel at approximately 100 miles per hour, transferring riders from one country to the next in as little as 20 minutes.
Construction on the Brooklyn Bridge began in 1870 and ended in 1883. First the New York-side and Brooklyn-side caissons were built, followed by the steel-strand cables and actual roadway. The bridge's designer, John Roebling, died shortly before construction began. His wife, Emily, was the first to cross the bridge.
Showcasing elevations reaching 1,500 meters and slopes up to 70 degrees, the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras differentiates itself from other rice terraces in Asia. About 2,000 years ago, the Ifugao people constructed the terraces, and their descendants still use them today.