PANAMA 



PANAMA CANAL 



a curve E. and W. between the 

 Caribbean Sea to the N. and the 

 Pacific Ocean on the S. The in- 

 terior is ele- 

 vated ; in the 

 W. the Cordil- 

 lera deVeragua 

 is drained by 

 short rapid 

 streams to 

 both coasts ; 



Panama flag, 



white with right 



corner red, left 



corner blue 



in the E. the 

 Cordillera de 

 Darien and the Sierra Canaza are 

 coastal ranges with a depression, 

 occupied by the rivers Chepo and 

 Chacunaque, between them. The 

 peninsula of Azuero projects into 

 the Pacific Ocean. 



The people are a mixed race of 

 Spanish, Indian, and negro origin ; 

 they are chiefly cattle rearers 

 for the markets of the Canal Zone. 

 Numerous small ports facilitate 

 communication. With an abundant 

 rainfall and fertile soil, tropical 

 crops should yield well, but more 

 than half the land is unoccupied 

 and the remainder is inadequately 

 cultivated. The chief crop is 

 bananas, and small amounts of 

 coffee, cocoa, and rubber are pro- 

 duced on plantations. Mahogany 

 is obtained from the forests. The 

 area is 32,380 sq. m. Pop. 450,000. 

 See Central America. 



Bibliography. Stanford's Com- 

 pendium of Geography and Travel, 

 Central and S. America, A. H. 

 Keane, 2nd ed. 1909-11 ; Panama, 

 the Canal, the Country, and the 

 People, A. Edwards, 1912; Panama 

 Past and Present, F. Bishop, 1916. 



Panama. Capital of the re- 

 public of Panama. It is situated 

 within the Canal Zone at the head 

 of the Gulf of Panama, and ex- 

 tends W. and N. from a small 

 peninsula which is entirely within 

 the city. It is the chief Pacific 

 port at the S. end of the Panama 

 Canal and is connected by rly. 

 with Colon attheAtlanticend. It in- 

 cludes the harbour of Balboa (q.v.), 

 formerly called Ancon, where ex 



tensive harbour 

 works have been 

 constructed. It 

 has a fine cathe- 

 dral, a national 

 university, gov- 

 ern m e n t and 

 municipal build- 

 ings ; the church 

 of S. Philip dates 

 from 1688. Pana- 

 ma was built by 

 the pirateMorgan 

 in 1671, after he 

 had sacked the 

 old town, 5 m. to 

 the N.E., which 

 was founded 

 in 1519. Pop. 

 50,000. 



Pan a m a, 

 GULF OF. Large 

 inlet of the 

 Pacific Ocean in 

 Panama. It lies 

 between the pen- 

 insula of Azuero 

 and the S.E. 

 littoral of the 

 republic, and is 



140 m. wide at its mouth. At its 

 head, some 1 20 m. N. of the mouth, is 

 the entrance to the Panama Canal. 

 In the N.E. are the Pearl Islands. 



Panama, ISTHMUS OF. Narrow 

 neck of land connecting N. and S. 

 America. It lies E. and W., with 



Panama, Central America. Ruins of the old cathedral, 



looted and burned by Morgan, the pirate ; top, right, 



facade of the present cathedral 



Panama Canal. Map of the waterway connecting the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 



Panama Canal, THE. Canal 

 through the Isthmus of Panama, 

 connecting the Caribbean Sea and 

 the Pacific Ocean. 



About the year 1520 navigators 

 and officials in the West Indies and 

 the Spanish Main became con- 

 vinced that nature had provided no 

 waterway through the isthmian 

 narrowlands connecting the two 

 great oceans. From that time pro- 

 jects began to be made for the 

 construction of an artificial channel 

 at some point along the isthmus. 

 The opening of the Suez Canal, 

 in 1869, was followed by activity 

 at Panama. The French attempt 

 to construct a canal under the 

 auspices of the maker of the Suez 

 Canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps, was 

 a terrible failure, owing partly to 

 financial extravagance and corrup- 

 tion, but partly also to insanitary 

 conditions at the isthmus. The 

 experiences of the Spanish war had 

 impressed the United States with 

 the necessity of a quicker water- 

 communication between their At- 

 the Gulf of lantic ^."d Pacific coasts. In 1904 

 Panama on the they acquired the rights and pro- 

 Pacific side and perty of the New Panama Company, 

 the Gulf of Darien which had beer, " caretaking " at 

 on the Atlantic the isthmus since the bankruptcy 

 side. Columbus of the old Lesseps company. They 

 landed on the a ' so obtained from the little re- 

 isthmus in 1502 public of Panama a strip of land 

 and here Balboa running across the isthmus, five 

 was the first miles wide, on either side of the 

 European to see proposed waterway, and known as 

 the Pacific Ocean, the Canal Zone. 

 It averages 70 m. The two most important natural 

 across, but is 32 features of the narrowlands of 

 m. at its narrow- Panama are the Chagres river and 

 est. See Darien. the Culebra mountains. The former 



