Panama (GPS: 9 00 N, 80 00 W) is located in Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica. The country’s area measurements are total: 75,420 sq km; land: 74,340 sq km, water: 1,080 sq km. This sovereign state is slightly smaller than South Carolina. The total irrigated land is 321 sq km (2012).
One of Panama’s essential features: Strategic location on the eastern end of the isthmus, forming a land bridge connecting North and South America. Controls the Panama Canal that links the North Atlantic Ocean via the Caribbean Sea with the North Pacific Ocean.
It’s significant, and at the same time, the principal city, Panama City’s GPS coordinates, is 8 58 N 79 32 W. Panama City’s local time is the same as Washington DC during Standard Time. The capital’s time difference: UTC-5.
For more information on Panama, please scroll down below the Google Maps.
Google Maps Panama and Panama City, Central America and the Caribbean
About Panama in detail
Flag of Panama
Map of Panama
Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela union named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When the latter dissolved in 1830, Panama remained part of Colombia. With US backing, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903. It promptly signed a treaty with the US, allowing for constructing a canal and US sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the structure (the Panama Canal Zone). The Panama Canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914.
In 1977, an agreement was signed to complete the Canal from the US to Panama by the end of the century. Certain portions of the Zone and increasing responsibility for the Canal were turned over in the subsequent decades. With US help, dictator Manuel NORIEGA was deposed in 1989. The entire Panama Canal, the area supporting the Canal, and the remaining US military bases were transferred to Panama by 1999. An ambitious expansion project to more than double the Canal’s capacity – by allowing for more Canal transits and larger ships – was carried out between 2007 and 2016.
Panama’s names conventional long form: the Republic of Panama, traditional short form: Panama, local long way: Republica de Panama, local short state: Panama, etymology: according to tradition, the name derives from a former indigenous fishing village and its nearby beach that was called “Panama” meaning “an abundance of fish.” Named after the capital city, which was itself named after a former indigenous fishing village.
Panama’s terrain is typically interior, mostly steep, rugged mountains with dissected, upland plains; coastal plains with rolling hills. The country’s mean elevation: 360 m, elevation extremes; lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m, highest point: Volcan Baru 3,475 m.
The country’s general climate is tropical maritime: hot, humid, cloudy: prolonged rainy season (May to January), short dry season (January to May).
The total number of border countries is 2, Colombia 339 km, Costa Rica 348 km are the neighboring nations with the indicated border lengths. Panama’s coastline is 2,490 km, while its marital claims are: territorial sea: 12 nautical miles, contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles, exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles or edge of the continental margin. Waterways: 800 km (includes the 82-km Panama Canal that is being widened) (2011). Land use: agricultural land: 30.5%; arable land 7.3%; permanent crops 2.5%; permanent pasture 20.7%; forest: 43.6%; other: 25.9% (2011 estimate).
The population in Panama 3,800,644 (July 2018 estimate), urban population: 66.6% of total population (2015), central metropolitan area’s population: PANAMA CITY (capital) 1.673 million (2015), while Panama has a population is concentrated towards the center of the country, particularly around the Canal, but a sizeable segment of the populace also lives in the far west around David; the eastern third of the country is sparsely inhabited.
Their spoken languages are Spanish (official language), indigenous languages (including Ngabere (or Guaymi), Buglere, Kuna, Embera, Wounaan, Naso (or Teribe), and Bri Bri), Panamanian English Creole (similar to Jamaican English Creole; a mixture of English and Spanish with elements of Ngabere; also known as Guari Guari and Colon Creole), English, Chinese (Yue and Hakka), Arabic, French Creole, other (Yiddish, Hebrew, Korean, Japanese). Note: many Panamanians are bilingual. The main religions in Panama are Roman Catholic, 85%, Protestant 15%. The nation uses civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court of Justice. It is a(n) presidential republic, National holiday(s) Independence Day, 3 November (1903).
Economic overview for the country: Panama’s dollar-based economy rests primarily on a well-developed services sector that accounts for more than three-quarters of GDP. Services include operating the Panama Canal, logistics, banking, the Colon Free Trade Zone, insurance, container ports, flagship registry, and tourism, and Panama is a center for offshore banking. Panama’s transportation and logistics services sectors, along with infrastructure development projects, have boosted economic growth; However, public debt surpassed $37 billion in 2016 because of excessive government spending and public works projects.
The US-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement was approved by Congress and signed into law in October 2011, and entered into force in October 2012. Future growth will be bolstered by the Panama Canal expansion project that began in 2007 and was completed in 2016 at the cost of $5.3 billion – about 10-15% of current GDP. The expansion project more than doubled the Canal’s capacity, enabling it to accommodate high-capacity vessels such as tankers and neo-Panamax ships that are too large to traverse the existing canal. The US and China are the top users of the Canal. Strong economic performance has not translated into broadly shared prosperity, as Panama has the second-worst income distribution in Latin America. About one-fourth of the population lives in poverty; however, from 2006 to 2012, poverty was reduced by ten percentage points.
Natural resources of Panama: copper, mahogany forests, shrimp, hydropower.
Main export partners for Panama, Central America, and the Caribbean are US 19.7%, Germany 13.2%, Costa Rica 7.7%, China 5.9%, Netherlands 4.1% (2015) for fruit and nuts, fish, iron and steel waste, wood, while the main import partners for the country are: the US 25.9%, China 9.6%, Mexico 5.1% (2015) for fuels, machinery, vehicles, iron, and steel rods, pharmaceuticals.
When you visit this country in Central America and the Caribbean, consider the natural hazards in Panama: Occasional severe storms and forest fires in the Darien area. At the same time, infectious diseases are a degree of risk: intermediate food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea vectorborne disease: dengue fever. Note: active local transmission of Zika virus by Aedes species mosquitoes has been identified in this country (as of August 2016); it poses a significant risk (a large number of cases possible) among US citizens if bitten by an infective mosquito; other less common ways to get Zika are through sex, via blood transfusion, or during pregnancy, in which the pregnant woman passes Zika virus to her fetus (2016). Also, note that Panama faces the following environmental issues: Water pollution from agricultural runoff threatens fishery resources, Deforestation of the tropical rain forest, Land degradation and soil erosion threatens the siltation of Panama Canal, Air pollution in urban areas, Mining threatens natural resources.
You may also be interested in the countries next to Panama around its total: 687 km border, like Colombia, Costa Rica.
