A man, a plan, a canal - Panama

Although there is proof that the ancient Egytians had originally built various water channels between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, it wasn't until the second half the 1800's that the sea level Suez Canal was built.

Led by the Frenchman, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the initial construction of the Suez Canal was completed on November, 1869. At the beginning there was controversy, for a variety of reasons, including slavery and the deaths of thousands of laborers, but eventually the Suez Canal became a successful venture.

Based on the profitability of the Suez project, de Felleps led to the construction of the Panama Canal. His plan was to also build a sea level canal through the isthmus of Panama.
After a few years of construction, the French project was abandoned. There are a variety of reasons for the eventual bankruptcy, but tropical diseases among the workers and a failure to utilize a lock mechanism are the main reasons cited.

To accommodate the human traffic, as a consequence of the 1848 California gold rush, a railway, across the isthmus of Panama was built by the Americans. Later, at the beginning of the 20th century, under the guise of of "protecting American interests from Revolutionary forces" the American government stealthily acquired the Canal Zone and thus allowing the Americans to build a channel to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The success of building a canal was not wishing to repeat the mistake of the French. An infrastructure was first placed to control tropical diseases and then the construction of lock building began. The Panama Canal was opened at the start of World War one.

A trick question is "what direction are you traveling, when on the Panama Canal, from the Atlantic to Pacific?". The correct answer is "East". A look on a map will show because of the curvature of Panama, the correct answer is a bit contrary.

Well, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming?

When informed by a francophone friend that there was no common French word for "procrastination", I immediately said "There has to be!, what about cunctation?".

The great Carthaginian general Hannibal managed to keep the Romans, during the Second Punic War, at bay in modern day Italy for at least seventeen years. After crossing the Alps, his troops and allies fought and won a number of battles. The Romans confronted him many times, under many generals, without success until the arrival of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus. Fabius was aware of the military superiority of the Carthaginians, and so when Hannibal invaded Italy, Fabius refused to meet him in a pitched battle. Instead he kept his troops close to Hannibal, hoping to exhaust him in a long war of attrition. Fabius was able to harass the Carthaginians, limiting Hannibal's ability to wreak destruction while conserving his own military force. At the beginning, the Roman populace was not impressed and gave Fabius the epithet, "Cunctator" (the delayer), as an insult. However, when this stratagem proved worthwhile, the title was then evolved to become an honorific one.

Procrastination may not exist, but I'm pretty sure cunctation does.