Panama Map 2

Panamania! Rainforests, bananas, hats, and a big canal… this place is craaaazy!

Location: Costa Rica is to its West, Columbia to its East, the Caribbean Sea to its North, and the North Pacific Ocean to its South.

Capital: Panama City

Population: 3.6 million (comparable to Connecticut)

Size: 29,157 square miles (comparable to South Carolina)

Religion: Christianity

Language: Spanish, English

Government: Democracy with a president (currently Ricardo Martinelli) who serves a five-year term and who heads over the legislative branch of government (National Assembly). This executive branch is separate from the judiciary branch.  They have a two-party system composed of the PRD and the Panamenista.

Economy: GNI is US $6,970; use the balboa

Hats

Panama hats!! Funnily enough, they originated and are constructed in Ecuador.

Fun Facts:  

  • It’s an isthmus, a narrow strip of land that connects two larger pieces of land.
  • The 47.9 mile long Panama Canal was constructed from 1880-1914, and changed from French to Columbian to US control by the time it was completed.  Panama has only had control of the canal since 2008.
  • Because it connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and Central and South America, Panama is of strategic importance to the US.
  • Panama is home to the biggest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere outside the Amazon Basin.
  • Baseball is Panama’s national sport and they have sent more players to the MLB than any other Central American country.

Not So Fun Facts:

  • 40% of Panama’s population lives below the poverty line.
  • Panama has a reputation of being a hot spot for money laundering, drugs, and illegal alien operations.
  • Traditionally, Panamanian politics are very corrupt.
  • Their jungles are mosquito infested.

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