Attempts to build a canal across Nicaragua to connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean stretch back to the early colonial era. Construction of such a shipping route—using the San Juan River as an access route to Lake Nicaragua—was first proposed then. Napoleon III wrote an article about its feasibility in the middle of the 19th century. The United States abandoned plans to construct a waterway in Nicaragua in the early 20th century after it purchased the French interests in the Panama Canal, which has served as the main connecting route across Central America since its completion.
Because the steady increase in global shipping may eventually make the project economically feasible, speculation on a new shipping route has continued. In June 2013, Nicaragua's National Assembly approved a bill to grant a 50-year concession to the HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment (HKND) to manage the Nicaraguan Canal and Development Project to build the canal, but little development took place, and the concession to HKND was cancelled in May 2024.
