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Panama

Bravo Ltd

LAND & PEOPLE

A GEOGRAPHICAL SNAPSHOT

Panama lies between North and Central America and South America. Like a solitary wisp of hair growing above South America's vast continental face, the narrow isthmus of Panama is connected with Colombia by a mere 140-mile (225-km) border, and covers a total area of 30,193 sq. miles (78,200 sq. km) — roughly the same size as Scotland. The country's political importance, however, is disproportionate, as Panama's great freshwater canal, which splits the country at its narrowest point, provides a vital central crossing point for global traffic.

The northwest of Panama has a border with Costa Rica 205 miles (330 km) long, and the isthmus lies almost horizontally, parallel to the equator, between the Caribbean Sea to the north and the north Pacific Ocean to the south, with coastlines totaling 1,547 miles (2,490 km) in length. Working inward from Colombia, the dense tropical rain forest of the Darién, veined with jungle canals and waterways, gradually thins westward toward central Panama. Rural farmland covers much of the central interior, which rises to the central highlands: a region of mountains, forested valleys, and coffee and fruit plantations. Panama's Pacific coast is much drier than its Caribbean side, which is humid and tropical. Both coasts are strewn with islands and atolls, ranging from the rocky and cavernous to paradisiacal palm-laden mounds and slivers of golden sand.

CLIMATE

In Panama it is sometimes hard to escape unpleasant humidity, which is due to the country's proximity to the equator. Coastal areas are often cooled by sea breezes, and are always more comfortable. The temperature throughout the country fluctuates between 89 and 95°F (approx. 32 and 35°C) during the day, dropping by around 50°F (10°C) at night. In the central highlands, days are sunny but cool, and temperatures fall much further at night.

May to November is considered Panama's rainy season, when on average it rains twelve days a month. Officially, the dry season starts during December and lasts until mid-April, but in the Caribbean regions the rains may continue. This should not put visitors off; temperamental as Caribbean rainstorms may be, they tend to come and go quickly, or just happen at night. Rain is more orderly in the southern, Pacific regions, where the wet and dry seasons are more marked.

GOVERNMENT

The Republic of Panama is a constitutional democracy and a sovereign and independent state. The government consists of the executive, which includes the country's president and two vice presidents; the independent judiciary; and the legislative assembly. The president and vice presidents are elected by direct vote for a five-year term. The country is divided into nine individually governed provinces — which are further divided into sixty-seven districts — and three near- or semiautonomous Indian comarcas (territories).

THE PANAMANIANS

The majority of Panama's population is now comprised of mestizos — those who are descended from a mix of Spanish and European settlers with natives from Central America. Minority groups include blacks and native Indians. Blacks are the descendants of African slaves brought by the Spanish to Panama in the early colonial days, and of West Indian migrants who some centuries later contributed to the construction of the Panama Canal and then the booming banana trade.

Many indigenous and native peoples disappeared in the centuries following the Spanish conquest. The invasion, along with European diseases that natives had never before encountered, caused entire tribes to be wiped out — their indigenous knowledge, languages, and customs vanishing with them.

Several native Indian groups remain in Panama today: Kuna, Emberá, Wounaan, Ngöbe Buglé (also known as Guaymí), Teribe, and Bokota. While Panama now recognizes the importance of these rare cultures, anthropologists fear their future is threatened. Urban sprawl and deforestation mean that the number of Indians merging into mainstream urban life will increase. Today, native groups collectively account for around 6 percent of Panama's population.

Kuna

The Kuna (estimated population 47,000) are probably Panama's most renowned ethnic group, although they are not the largest. Originally from Colombia, they now occupy the San Blas Archipelago on the northeast Caribbean coast, and parts of the surrounding mainland, named Kuna Yala. They are subsistence farmers who survive on homegrown vegetables, grains, and fruits, and local fishing. Like all Panamanian Indians, the Kuna are skilled at wood carving and build boats and tools that are integral to their existence. Famous for their community strength, they have had to fight, throughout the centuries, to retain the rights to the land they inhabit.

The most notable event occurred in 1938 after the Kuna refused to obey government orders to integrate into Panamanian society. They proved willing to go to war to maintain their traditional lifestyle and were assisted by the U.S. military who happened to have marines stationed in the area. The Panamanian government backed down, and the Kuna people were awarded complete political and social autonomy. Their success has since inspired other indigenous Latin American groups to battle for official recognition.

Kuna people are particularly sensitive to the threat to their traditions and to their natural surroundings, and have recently imposed regulations on visitors. These are mainly obvious, such as not to leave litter or remove flora and fauna. Additionally, visitors have to ask permission to take photographs of Kuna people, and a small fee will usually be expected for this. These requirements should be respected. While other areas of Panama are being developed, the Kuna are working for the conservation of the country's threatened rain forests and have already protected nearly 150,000 acres (around 60,000 hectares) of land and organized an education center for rain forest management. It is likely that their region of Panama will be one of the few natural areas left intact in the whole country.

Kuna dress consists of a brightly colored fabric tunic and skirt. The tunics have a particularly ornate front panel, the mola (blouse), which is an intricately designed and hand-stitched appliqué, usually depicting natural forms such as growing seeds and wildlife. Molas are sold as souvenirs throughout the country. Kuna women also adorn their ankles and wrists with tiny colored beads strung together in wide bands to create patterns. Jewelry is an important part of their dress, and heavy gold nose rings are customary.

While most Kuna live in Kuna Yala, many have migrated across the country. Kuna women in traditional dress shopping on Central Avenue in Panama City, with their children dressed in modern fashions, are an everyday sight.

Emberá and Wounaan

The Emberá and Wounaan, like the Kuna, originated in Colombia, and are similar in culture to the Chocoan people (see below). They have a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, covering miles of winding jungle waterways to hunt and trade with other communities. Like the Kuna, the Emberá and Wounaan are working to protect their surrounding forests, in this case the Darién, which straddles the Colombian border. The Panamanian government has now designated more than 741,000 acres (around 300,000 hectares) of their Darién home the Comarca Emberá-Drua.

The Emberá and Wounaan, with an estimated population of 17,600, lead more private lives than the Kuna, chiefly because the Darién jungle is far less accessible to visitors than the San Blas islands, and thus unsuitable for vacations. However, in 1975 a small Emberá community journeyed from the Darién to the banks of the Chagres River, just outside Panama City, where they resettled. They have recently begun to open their village to tourists on a daily basis and it is now possible to observe their traditions there firsthand.

Ngöbe and Buglé

Panama's largest native group, made up of the Ngöbe and Buglé people, with an estimated population of 125,000, are often referred to as one: Ngöbe Buglé. Inhabiting the provinces of Chiriquí, Veraguas, and Bocas del Toro, they have also become known collectively as Guaymí. However, this is not a name that exists in their language, and you may offend them if you use it.

Ngöbe Buglé people retain a traditional farming and hunting lifestyle, although in some areas today many have become integrated into mainstream society, chiefly through trade. Their dress is much simpler than the dress of the Kuna and Emberá. The women wear simple, brightly colored cotton dresses that reach to the ankles, usually with some colored cotton patchwork on the shoulders and bodice and along the hem.

A BRIEF HISTORY

For such a small country, Panama's history is extensive and dramatic. Since the Spanish conquest, Panama's chronicles sound more like an epic work of fiction than historical fact. From great colonial powers to marauding pirates, Panama has suffered global interventions and foreign dominance for five centuries.

Pre-Columbian Life

The first inhabitants of the Americas were migrants from Asia. Groups traveled south through Central America and the earliest settlers are believed to have reached Panama around 12,000 BCE. Despite later Spanish looting, many pre-Columbian artifacts have survived and are testament to the creativity and intellectual output of Panama's earliest cultures.

Archaeologists believe that some of the first pottery-making villages were established in Panama, and pre-Columbian examples of pots, plates, jugs, and tribal figures and statues have been unearthed across the country. The Monagrillo culture was among the earliest discovered and is dated around the third century BCE. The most spectacular finds have been in the regions of Cocles and Chiriquí. Larger items found in Chiriquí include volcanic stone ritual tables and life-size figures from the Bariles culture (fifth century CE). Pottery remains show a range of colors from dark chocolate to rich orange and terracotta. They display tribal art using backgrounds and subjects taken from nature, such as water, sky, plants, animals, and birds.

Additionally a great amount of gold has been found in Panama, pointing to trade existing within the Americas in pre-Columbian times. Gold artifacts such as heavy tribal jewelry, breastplates, and talismans have been dug up from tombs and burial sites and are now collectively named huacas. Many of these items depict animals, birds, and medicine figures, or shamans, each believed to represent an important part of life. The frog shows fertility, the crocodile strength, the shaman wisdom and power. Most of the ancient gold is believed to have been looted by the Spanish, and what is left today is displayed in Panama City's anthropological museum.

During these early centuries Panama was already becoming a grand central station for migrating peoples, although historians believe the main inhabitants were those of the Chibchan, Cueva, and Chocoan peoples, communities that occupied land from Costa Rica to Colombia.

The [Conquistadores

In 1501, Rodrigo de Bastidas became the first European to step on to Panamanian soil. However, the first major European mark on the country was made by Columbus, who arrived on Panama's northern shores in 1502. He spent the following year futilely searching for a strait between Europe and Asia that he believed to be in the country. Some areas today, from Bocas del Toro to Portobelo, still bear the names he gave them. He was ultimately frustrated in his search and never found a way across the isthmus. Despite returning to Spain unfulfilled, Columbus was the first to encounter Panamanian peoples and culture.

In 1513 Vasco Núñez de Balboa sealed Panama's future for many generations. The first European to cross the isthmus on foot, Balboa claimed the country for the Spanish crown. As in other parts of Latin America, the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores drastically changed the face of the country. Battles and, most importantly, diseases, against which native peoples had no resistance, wiped out numerous tribes. Loss of life in Panama escalated to the extent that colonial European settlers sent for Indian slaves from neighboring countries.

The Colonial Era and the Shipment of Treasures

The Spanish moved in quickly, founding Panamá Vieja, the first European settlement on America's Pacific coast, in 1519. When the gold of the Incas was discovered in South America, Panama opened up one of the world's major trade routes — one that would remain just as important for centuries to come. Gold and treasure were shipped to Panama's new capital city and then transported overland to the Caribbean port of Nombre de Dios, from where they were shipped on to Europe. Panama's narrow center provided a short land crossing, and the Spanish-constructed path was named the Camino Real. However, the route was far from trouble-free, and pirates and bounty hunters continually threatened the shipments of gold. In 1668 the Welsh buccaneer Henry Morgan sacked and stole enough "pieces of eight" from Portobelo to make them legal tender in nearby Jamaica. In 1671, he crossed the isthmus and looted Panamá Vieja itself; the city was completely destroyed by fire in the attack. Panama City was rebuilt in a new, fortified position on the Pacific, known today as Casco Viejo (or San Felipe).

Vision of a Waterway

The Spanish determined to find an alternative to the Camino Real, which was regularly attacked by bandits and subject to the encroachments of dense jungle. They had plans for a waterway connecting the two oceans as early as 1524, and numerous surveys were carried out to consider the different possibilities. The Camino de Cruces was constructed as an early attempt and linked the Camino Real with the Chagres River, greatly shortening the overland distance. This was as far as the Spanish managed to get, however, and they never realized their dreams of a canal.

Independence from Spain

Panama gained independence from Spain in 1821. However, the country joined the confederacy of Gran Colombia, the Latin American countries united by Simon Bolivar. When this alliance later disbanded, Panama remained part of Colombia.

Colombia continued the quest for an interoceanic canal, though a railroad was built first. Constructed in 1855, at the time of the San Francisco gold rush, the 50-mile (80-km) rail route through Panama proved the safest transit for North Americans heading from the East to the West coast.

The French Attempt

The railroad was considered merely a temporary measure, and in 1880 Colombia finally sold the rights to build a canal to the French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique. This attempt resulted in tragic failure. Led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had successfully engineered the Suez Canal, the French endeavored to construct a similar sea-level canal in Panama. Thick rain forest, intense tropical conditions, and disease defeated the attempt; around 22,000 lives were lost to yellow fever and malaria. The project was abandoned in 1888.

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Excerpted from Panama by Heloise Crowther. Copyright © 2006 Kuperard. Excerpted by permission of Bravo Ltd.
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