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Geography
Panama's most important feature is manmade: the 50-mile long Panama Canal, a key international waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans which saves 3,000 miles of travel around South America. HistoryPanama has a fascinating history for such a small country. Its pre-Colombian residents were fisherman with a special penchant for goldsmithery. When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, there were several dozen indigenous cultures; centuries of persecution, disease and cultural domination have reduced that number to three, of which only one (the Kuna) thrives.Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the isthmus in 1513 and became the first European to set eyes on the ocean which he christened the Pacific (it was a calm day). From that point forward, Panama was a staging point for the conquest of Peru and the trans-shipment of its immense riches back to Spain. This eventually attracted the attention of English pirates like Francis Drake and Henry Morgan, who pillaged and plundered their way through the 17th and 18th centuries. When the gold well ran dry, Panama reverted to a colonial backwater, gaining independence as a province of Colombia in 1821. Panama regained its status as a crossroads in 1855, when the US completed the
first trans-continental railroad in the Americas. The California gold-rush
provided plenty of passengers, and spurred plans for an interoceanic
canal. Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps, hero of the Suez canal, had a go
but failed Unfortunately, Panama's government has not operated as smoothly as its Canal. In 1989, 25,000 US troops invaded in order to bring strongman General Noriega to trial in the US on drug-trafficking charges. This was of course an egregious violation of international law, but most Panamanians were happy to see him go. The country remains a democracy, and at the end of 1999 the last US soldiers left and Panama took possession of the Canal. PeoplePanamanians number some 2.6 million souls, most of them Catholic. A small (14%) white minority runs the show, a sizeable (10%) Asian community is prominent in trade, mestizos (60%) and blacks (12%) do the dirty work, and the few remaining indigenous Indians (6%) struggle to get by.Spanish is the official language, but immigration by Caribbean blacks and the longstanding US presence ensured a sizeable population of English-speakers. The UN ranks Panama in the 66th percentile in terms of quality of life, based on life expectancy, education and income; this is better than most Latin American countries. EconomyPanama is a middle-income economy, with a GNP per capita of $3,000 per year. The country's most important sector is banking, which specializes in money laundering for drug-traffickers and tax evasion for the international jet-set. Panama is also a prominent exporter of bananas.Tourism has yet to take off, with just 400,000 arrivals in 1998. Most just pass through the Canal on a cruise ship, or come for duty-free shopping. Ecotourism potential is considerable and largely untapped. Sources: World Bank (1998 data), Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas, UNDP Human Development Report, Lonely Planet
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Panama comprises the
narrowest and southernmost stretch of the Central American isthmus. It is
generally mountainous with a tropical climate. The country's location has
made it a crossroads of trade and culture for many centuries. 
miserably, losing
22,000 workers to Yellow Fever and Malaria; by 1889 his consortium was bankrupt
and his reputation in tatters. The US decided it could do better, and
having facilitated Panama's independence from Colombia, started construction in
1904. The Canal was completed in 1914, and remains one of the greatest
engineering achievements of the modern age, completed despite disease,
landslides and many other challenges.
