Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla was born in Paris on July 26, 1859. After graduating as an engineer in France, he joined Ferdinand de Lesseps on his Panama project at the age of 26. He was incapacitated by fever not long after and had to return to Paris where he then became involved with building railroads in the Belgian Congo. This was followed by a contract building flood controls in Rumania.
His career then took a tangent when he became editor of [G 09 / Le Matin] in Paris. He was a brilliant, albeit self-possessed, man who was forceful and convincing in his opinions. It was while he was in Paris that he became a major player in the beginnings of the New Panama Canal Company (NPCC) following the failure of de Lesseps' company. He was also instrumental in setting up the buyout of the NPCC by the Americans; not before trying to persuade the Russians in the mid-1890s to step in first, however. He had a fear of Anglo-Saxons (both Britons and Americans) monopolizing the world's commerce through controlling both the Suez and Panama Canals.
When he realized that it was a fruitless mission, he jumped onto the US bandwagon. Together with Secretary of State Hay and President Roosevelt, he precipitated a revolution in Panama in order to remove Colombia (who at that time governed Panama) from the negotiations. As [G 10 / Minister Plenipotentiary] of the newly-formed independent Panamanian government, Bunau-Varilla also managed to secure a one-sided treaty totally in favor of US control over the building, administration and fortification of the Canal Zone. In the long term this deal was almost entirely responsible for the animosity between Panama and the US that continued throughout the 20th century.
Bunau-Varilla returned to France some time later, after amassing a considerable personal fortune, and died in Paris in May 1940.
