Panama

Panama (, ; Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá), is a country in Central America, bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.

Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica (República de Costa Rica), is a sovereign state in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island.

The capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country's million people.

Panama City (Ciudad de Panamá; ), also simply known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama.

Panama (, ; Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá), is a country in Central America, bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.

Central America consists of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. The US intent to influence the area, especially the Panama Canal's construction and control, led to the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903 and its establishment as a nation.

The Panama Canal (Canal de Panamá) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.

It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

The state included the territories of present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela, and parts of northern Peru, western Guyana and northwestern Brazil.

The 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties led to the transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama on December 31, 1999.

The Torrijos–Carter Treaties (Tratados Torrijos-Carter) are two treaties signed by the United States and Panama in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, which superseded the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903.

It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

The territory corresponding to Panama was incorporated later in 1739, and the provinces of Venezuela were separated from the Viceroyalty and assigned to the Captaincy General of Venezuela in 1777.

It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Following the battle, Ecuador joined Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia, also including modern-day Colombia, Venezuela and Panama.

The most scientifically corroborated theory by Panamanian linguists, states that the word is a hispanicization of Kuna language word "bannaba" which means "distant" or "far away".

The Kuna language (formerly Cuna, and in the language itself Guna), spoken by the Kuna people of Panama and Colombia, belongs to the Chibchan language family.

One states that the country was named after a commonly found species of tree (Sterculia apetala, the Panama tree).

Sterculia apetala is recognized as the national tree of the Republic of Panama.

Panama is a founding member of the United Nations and other international organizations such as OAS, LAIA, G77, WHO and NAM.

This meeting was attended by representatives of Gran Colombia (comprising the modern-day countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela), Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, The United Provinces of Central America, and Mexico but the grandly titled "Treaty of Union, League, and Perpetual Confederation" was ultimately ratified only by Gran Colombia.

Later central Panama was home to some of the first pottery-making in the Americas, for example the cultures at Monagrillo, which date back to 2500–1700 BC.

Monagrillo (also known as He-5) is an archaeological site in south-central Panama with ceramics that have been shown by radiocarbon dating to have an occupation range of about 2500 BC—1200 BC.

The earliest discovered artifacts of indigenous peoples in Panama include Paleo-Indian projectile points.

Many parts of the Americas are still populated by indigenous peoples; some countries have sizable populations, especially Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Greenland, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the United States.

The Isthmus of Panama was formed about three million years ago when the land bridge between North and South America finally became complete, and plants and animals gradually crossed it in both directions.

It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal.

The monumental monolithic sculptures at the Barriles (Chiriqui) site are also important traces of these ancient isthmian cultures.

Barriles (known also as Sitio Barriles or by the designation BU-24), is one of the most famous archaeological sites in Panama.

Because of incomplete Spanish control, the Panama route was vulnerable to attack from pirates (mostly Dutch and English), and from "new world" Africans called cimarrons who had freed themselves from enslavement and lived in communes or palenques around the Camino Real in Panama's Interior, and on some of the islands off Panama's Pacific coast.

The Cimarrons in Panama were enslaved Africans who had escaped from their Spanish masters and lived together as outlaws.

The end of the encomienda system in Azuero, however, sparked the conquest of Veraguas in that same year.

Veraguas is a province of Panama, located in the centre-west of the country.

Before Europeans arrived Panama was widely settled by Chibchan, Chocoan, and Cueva peoples.

The Choco languages (also Chocoan, Chocó, Chokó) are a small family of Native American languages spread across Colombia and Panama.

Panama was under Spanish rule for almost 300 years (1538–1821), and became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, along with all other Spanish possessions in South America.

These movements led to the formation of the modern-day country of Peru, as well as Chile, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Guyana, the territories that at one point or another had constituted the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Before Europeans arrived Panama was widely settled by Chibchan, Chocoan, and Cueva peoples.

The Chibchan languages (also Chibchan, Chibchano) make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

The end of the encomienda system in Azuero, however, sparked the conquest of Veraguas in that same year.

Azuero Peninsula (Península de Azuero) is a large peninsula in southern Panama.

Silver cargoes were landed at Panama and then taken overland to Portobello or Nombre de Dios on the Caribbean side of the isthmus for further shipment.

Portobelo (historically Porto Bello in English) is a port city and corregimiento in Portobelo District, Colón Province, Panama with a population of 4,559.

It was seen as a risky move on the part of Azuero, which lived in fear of Colonel José Pedro Antonio de Fábrega y de las Cuevas (1774–1841).

The history of Panama refers to the Isthmus of Panama region's long history that occurred in Central America, from Pre-Colombian cultures, during the Spanish colonial era, through independence and the current country of Panama.

At the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, the known inhabitants of Panama included the Cuevas and the Coclé tribes.

The area largely coincides with the modern-day Panamanian province of Coclé, and consisted of a number of identifiable native cultures.

The US intent to influence the area, especially the Panama Canal's construction and control, led to the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903 and its establishment as a nation.

The separation of Panama from Colombia was formalized on 3 November 1903, with the establishment of the Republic of Panama.