The Republic of Panama is not a particularly large country, with a population of 4.3 million
and only the size of Czechia or South Carolina, but of course we all know how truly un-insignificant
the country is, due to a certain artificial waterway and how it affects the rest of the
world.
Holding one of the two linchpins in global low-latitude maritime trade, how has its mere
position influenced the little nation, and how does it keep itself together through its
somewhat unique geographic challenges?
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To talk about how Panama manages its geography today, first it might be best to take a brief
look at its history, you know, for context [1,2].
Ever since the Isthmus of Panama first formed 3 million years ago, it allowed a great interchange
between North and South America, in terms of plant and animal life, and later on humans.
By the time the Spanish showed up the isthmus was populated by Chibchan, Chocoan, and Cuevan
peoples, with the latter making up the largest populations.
Unfortunately their populations would decline greatly due to European influences, with the
Cueva becoming extinct entirely by 1535.
Rodrigo de Bastidas became the first European to explore the isthmus in 1501, and in 1513
Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the isthmus, proving it to be a shortcut between the seas,
though of course building a canal at this time was way out of the question.
In 1514 Pedro Arias Dávila was assigned royal governor, founding Panama City five years
later.
Panama grew over the next 300 years, exporting gold and silver from western South America,
until becoming part of the newly independent Republic of Gran Colombia.
Panama then made dozens of attempts to break away from Colombia, all unsuccessful until
a particular country you may or may not have heard of got involved.
If there was any country in the region that would have hugely benefited from a canal in
Central America, it was definitely the United States, whose only sea route to its own west
coast was around South America.
There were rail lines crossing the isthmus between the ports, but for the ships themselves
this was not ideal.
After an… actually I think I’ll let the flag map characters portray this, it’ll
probably be funnier.
France: Alright, time to dig a canal across Panama!
Our own Ferdinand de Lesseps just finished the Suez Canal and that was much longer.
How hard can this be?
USA (from a distance): Hey that’s what we call foreshadowing!
[20 years later] USA: Hey, France, how’s the canal going?
France: It was a complete failure.
USA: Okay I’ll take care of it.
Hey, Colombia, if I give you money for it, will you let me have a small strip of land
to build a canal across Panama?
Colombia: Okay sure.
USA: Alright guys, they agreed to the Hay-Herrán Treaty, now we just got to ratify it.
And… done!
Time to build!
Senator: Um, it actually appears they didn’t ratify it.
USA: Oh… one second.
Hey Columbia…
Colombia: Colombia.
USA: Eh whatever, anyway that’s a nice Panama you have there…
Colombia: Dijiste no.
USA: Well anyway we noticed there are some rebels there.
Now we’re *totally* not just gonna give them aid and money and let them break off
to form a new country subservient to our interests… oh too late they’re independent now!
See ya!
Colombia: ¡Oye!
¡Devolvérmelo!
In 1903 Panama was introduced to the world stage as a new country, and in 1904 the US
was given the Canal Zone as effectively an unincorporated territory of the country itself,
though with few restrictions on movement for Panamanians traversing their country.
The US was able to build the canal by 1914 and kept the Canal Zone, originally in perpetuity,
however it ended up being ceded back to Panama in 1979 after a series of riots amongst the
Panamanians, who by the 50’s and 60’s had become fed up with this canal zone that
effectively split their country but from which they saw hardly any revenue.
Though perhaps I’ll talk more about that in a future video (perhaps when I can actually
go there myself).
Panama’s capital and by far largest city is of course Panama City (or Panamá in Spanish),
with a population of 880,000 (1.7 million in the metro area), which is apparently still
not large enough for Google not to assume I’m talking about some Floridian city of
36,000.
No seriously, I know I’m in the US, but why do you assume I mean Panama City, Florida
and not Panama City, “no but the original one which dates back to 1519 and has a population
literally 25 times larger and is the capital of a sovereign nation”?
Panama City far surpasses any other city in Panama, with the second largest city Colón
(or in Spanish, Colón) having only 78,000 people, or 247,000 in the metro area.
With only a handful of cities with more than 10,000 people, the country is clearly quite
centralized on Panama City itself.
While it is far from the only major part of the national economy, it is easy to argue
the canal put Panama on the map, making it a center for foreign capital.
Panama City, who’s metro area population makes up 40% of the entire country’s, sits
just east of the canal’s Pacific entrance, making particularly strong use of the banking
and tourism sector.
Panama was the first country besides the US to adopt the US Dollar as a legal currency.
While it does have a currency at par with the US Dollar, the Balboa, it adopted the
US Dollar in 1903, having been effectively left without a currency after breaking off
from Colombia.
At the Atlantic end of the canal though, near Panama’s second-largest city Colón, operates
the Colón Free Trade Zone.
This free port, second largest in the world, re-exports various merchandise (probably even
including KhAnubis merchandise) to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Despite this though, while Panama City may fancy itself by the likes of Dubai or Singapore,
cities like Colón seem noticeably more… left behind, all the wealth mostly going to
Panama City itself.
Although it is beside such a large free port, changes in technology and the ways goods are
processed have pushed the city on somewhat of a downward spiral.
The contrast is quite clear even just with appearances, with Panama City’s gleaming
skyscrapers, versus Colón which Hollywood filmmakers have reportedly used as a stand-in
for Haiti [3].
The only railway in the country, aside from the Panama Canal mules or the Panama City
metro, is the Panama Canal Railway, between Panama City and Colón, carrying goods, tourists,
and certain commuters.
The country has 15,000km of roadway, and 117 airports [4], particularly for outer islands
and towns like Puerto Obaldia which have no road connections whatsoever.
The Pan-American Highway travels throughout the country, through Panama City, and ending
somewhat modestly at the town of Yaviza.
Panama shares a land border with two nations, Costa Rica and Colombia.
Panama’s border with Costa Rica is traversed by multiple roads (including the Pan-American
Highway) and dotted by numerous crossing points, including in the shared bordertown of Paso
Canoas.
With Colombia however the situation is quite different, as the border runs through the
famous Darién Gap, an expanse of rainforest that has proven particularly difficult to
cross.
Yeah, you *could* try to drive through, if you’re fine with driving through dense rainforest,
but for anyone with even an inkling of sanity, this 100-kilometer gap means that land travel
between South America and a tiny piece of South America that connects to North America
is nearly impossible.
This area has become a refuge for smugglers and bandits taking advantage of the area’s
impenetrable geography [5].
Plans have been proposed to link the two sections together, however these have been blocked
by environmentalist and agricultural groups [6], the latter worried about the spread of
cattle diseases into North America.
So although Panama is the single landmass binding the continents, I wouldn’t exactly
hold my breath for it to become as much a north-south trade power as an east-west trade
power.
Wait a minute...
Looking at history, it is clear that although Panama may have been put on the map by the
Panama Canal, the United States has clearly benefited immensely of the mere existence
of the canal, as it not only could more easily connect both its coasts, but also the west
coast to Europe and the east coast to Asia.
Thus, while American influence may be stronger in Panama than vice versa, it is the US who
has historically depended on this little country, and has thus gone quite out of its way to
make sure it doesn’t have to… go too far out of its way.
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