Why was it necessary to build the Panama canal?

Hi It was built to shorten the distance that ships had to travel to pass between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I hope that's help !

Based on some extensive research I found that it was necessary to build because of something called "commercial importance", which means "Important to a business commercially (i.e. making money from it)". Hope this helps you, and happy studying~! Stay smart, ~Mistermistyeyed.