The social and racial divide along the Panama Canal zone in its American heyday was stark: a silver and gold, segregated system of pay – and life.

President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend suggested the US should retake the Panama Canal, an idea that was immediately rejected by the government of Panama, which has controlled the passage for decades.

The U.S. helped Panama secede from Colombia in 1903 to build the passage that now carries more than 10,000 ships a year.