30 
the two countries could not be more congenial. The 
population of Panama is mainly “mestizo,” which means 
that a mixture of European and Indian blood predominates. 
But there are also, in smaller percentages, pure-blooded 
Indians, pure-blooded whites, Negroes, mulattos, and 
Orientals. 
Although Spanish chroniclers computed that the conquis- 
tadores found large numbers of Indians living in Panama, 
they w T ere so rapidly destroyed that two decades after the 
first Spanish settlement it was necessary to import Negro 
slaves to do the work. The census of 1940 estimates the 
present population of Panama as only a little over half a 
million. 
THE PANAMANIAN FLAG 
Panama’s flag is divided into four squares, one red, 
one blue and two white. One white square contains a 
blue star, the other a red star. The red color stands for 
the Liberals, the blue for the Conservatives. The white 
is the field of peace and the symbolism is that the two 
historic Colombian parties on the Isthmus, represented by 
a red star and a blue star, joined together on a field of peace 
to form the new Republic of Panama. 
♦ ♦ ♦ 
31 
History of the Panama Cana! 
The desire for a Panama Canal did not originate with 
20th century Americans, anxious for quick water com¬ 
munication between New York and San Francisco. It is 
as old as the settlement of the mainland by Spanish 
conquerors. The first historically recognized suggestion 
that a canal might be built was in 1519, one hundred years 
before the Pilgrims saw Plymouth Rock. 
In those days, the Spaniards were trying to get to India. 
Magellan’s voyage around the world in 1526 opened their 
eyes to the vast distances that intervened, but then came 
the conquest of Peru, and Peruvian gold made a direct 
water route to Spain even more desirable. In 1529 the 
Spanish King commanded his engineer, Alvaro de Saavedra, 
to survey a canal. This was done over almost exactly the 
route the Panama Canal takes today. But the King was 
told that although the project was feasible, there was not 
enough money in the world to pay for it. 
Undeterred by this pessimistic report, one proposal 
after another for linking the two oceans was brought for¬ 
ward during the next hundred years. Then, in the year 
1616, influenced by a priestly adviser, King Philip III 
put a stop to them. He issued an edict that plans for a 
canal were heretical on the grounds that if God had wanted 
the land to be divided, He Himself would have done so, 
and Man, in attempting to improve upon God’s handiwork 
plainly flew in the face of Providence. 
This document was definitely discouraging to new pro¬ 
jects. In addition, the pirates—the submarine menace of 
the 18th century—were so successful in their depredations 
that after 1740 the Isthmian route was completely aban¬ 
doned and the galleons were convoyed from Peru to Spain 
around Cape Horn. 
One legendary exception was a doughty little friar 
named Antonio de Cereso, who is said to have defied 
Providence, King, and Church, and, with the help of his 
Indian parishioners, cleared the Canal of Raspadura, 
which connected an 8-mile gap between the headwaters 
of the Atrato and San Juan Rivers on Panama’s border 
with Colombia. The purpose of this obscure 18th century 
canal was to carry cacao from the fertile valleys of the 
