The term CANAL ZONE LOCALE can be solved by the 6-letter word PANAMA. PANAMA is a country located in Central America, bordered by Costa Rica and Colombia. It is best known for the PANAMA Canal, a man-made waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Canal Zone was a strip of land in PANAMA that was controlled by the United States from 1903 to 1979. During this time, the Canal Zone was a separate jurisdiction from PANAMA, and it had its own local government.