Panama is the heaven in earth. Throughout the history, sailors from around the world came to the beautiful island for business, trade, relax and living.
The earliest known inhabitants of Panama were the Cuevas and the Cocle tribes, but they were decimated by disease and fighting when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. Rodrigo de Bastidas, sailing westward from Venezuela in 1501 in search of gold, was the first European to explore the Isthmus of Panama. Then a year later, Christopher Columbus visited the Isthmus and established a short-lived settlement in the Darien.
For around 300 years, Panama was under Spanish rule. The time was 1538 to 1821. Invaded by the Spanish in the 16th century for gold, saw its fortunes ebb as the Spanish empire progressed into its territory. After 1821, Columbia took control of Panama. Panama got its independence from Columbia in 1903.
Panama is widely famous for its canal, which is an engineering marvel and one of the most important trade routes on earth. Seeing a huge ship sail through the narrow canal, with huge jungles on both sides, is a wonderful sight. The Panama Canal is known as the 8th wonder of the world.
People say that the name ‘Panama’ comes from an Indian word meaning ‘land of Many fish, birds and butterflies’, others believe it stems from the Kuna Indian phrase “panna mai”. Panama Stretches east and west for 400 miles, connecting South and Central America. It varies in width from 30 to 120 miles, on the north are the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean on the south. Some 400,000 gold rushers en route to California crossed here.
In 1984 General Manuel Noriega became the president of Panama, he was the former Head of Panama’s secret police before that. Drug trafficking, money laundering, political murders were rampant during his tenure. These activities attracted US sanctions against the countries.
In the 1989 presidential election, Panama witnessed some unexpected events. The winning candidate was beaten and shown on national TV, the election was declared void, and Manueal Noriega’s government became an embarrassment. He then appointed himself as head of government on Dec 15th 1989 and declared war with the USA.
The very next day a US soldier was killed by Panamanian soldiers- as claimed by the pentagon. The US was waiting for months to attack and this was more than sufficient to call in 25,000 US troops. This operation was known as ‘Operation just cause’. The aim of the US invasion was to bring Noriega to justice and create democracy suited towards US government interests. He was captured soon and convicted for money laundering charges, and served a prison sentence in Florida. France is looking to trial him next.
Guillermo Endara, was the winner of the 1989 presidential election, but was ineffective in governing the country and his popularity declined rapidly and was voted out of office in 1994. One of the fairest elections in Panama’s history was held in 1994 and Ernesto P`erez Balladares was elected. He is implementing privatization, and improving infrastructure, education and healthcare.
The present ruler is Martin Torrijos, who was elected on September 1st 2004. Panama is now has a stable country with a high economic growth rate.
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