Panama Travel Guide

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Panama is a curious but exhilarating combination of cultural influence. It lies at the center of the world, its isthmus constituting the last part of a natural land-bridge between the North and South American continents. Its strategic position and glorious terrain - from wildlife-rich jungle to sun-soaked beach - suggests that it will remain an important country for a long time yet.

The country has been a pivotal trade route for 500 years, first under Spanish rule, then as part of independent Gran Colombia and modern Colombia, and in 20th century, as an independent nation. However, the Panama Canal Zone, completed in 1914, became an American Protectorate for many decades. It was only in 1977 that the Americans agreed to turn over the canal to full Panamanian control by 1999.

In the 1980s, the country was run by Head of the Armed Forces, Manuel Noriega, who was very unpopular in Washington. In 1989, after an unsuccessful coup (thought to have US backing), US President George Bush authorized an invasion to remove the troublesome dictator.

Today, Panama is more settled in its own skin and embarking upon ambitious new projects. The Panama Canal, which recorded its busiest year to date in 2007, is to expand substantially by around 2014.

Geography

Panama forms the land link between the North and South American continents. It borders Colombia to the east, Costa Rica to the west, and the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean to the north and south. The country forms an S-shaped isthmus, which runs east–west over a total length of 772km (480 miles) and is 60 to 177km (37 to 110 miles) wide. The landscape is mountainous with lowlands on both coastlines cut by streams, wooded slopes and a wide area of savannah-covered plains and rolling hills called El Interior between the Azuero peninsula and the Central Mountains. The Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean are linked by the man-made Panama Canal, cut into a gap between the Cordillera de Talamanca and the San Blas mountain range and stretching for over 65km (40 miles); the length of the canal is often referred to as 80km (50 miles) as this is the distance between deep-water points of entry. Only about a quarter of the country is inhabited. The majority of the population live either around the canal and main cities of Panama City and Colón (the two cities which control the entrance and exit of the canal) or in the Pacific lowlands and the adjacent mountains.