Panama
Places, people, events and dates. The country, not the speech.
137 entries about Panama
Food
Culture
águila harpía
Panama's national bird and one of the largest raptors in the world, with talons the size of a hand. It lives…
Carnaval
The four days before Ash Wednesday, Panama's biggest popular festival. The country effectively shuts down…
congo
The Afro-descendant cultural tradition of Colón's Caribbean coast, with its own dance, song, speech and…
Corpus Christi
A religious festival celebrated with particular intensity in La Villa de Los Santos, featuring diablicos…
Desfile de las Mil Polleras
An annual parade in Las Tablas each January in which thousands of women march wearing the pollera. Started…
Día de la Madre
In Panama it falls on 8 December, coinciding with the Immaculate Conception, and it is a national holiday…
el Nazareno
The Black Christ image venerated in Portobelo, the focus of one of Panama's most intense popular devotions…
flor del Espíritu Santo
A white orchid designated the national flower, whose center forms the shape of a dove with open wings. That…
la Marea Roja
Nickname of Panama's national football team, after the color of its jersey and its fans. Qualifying for the…
mola
A Guna textile made from layers of cloth cut and hand-stitched in reverse appliqué, with geometric or…
plena
Panamanian urban genre born in the 1980s from the adaptation of Jamaican dancehall into Spanish, in…
rana dorada
A yellow amphibian endemic to Panama, a national symbol with its own day in August. It has not been found in…
Semana Santa
The week when the capital empties and the interior and the beaches fill up. Alcohol sales are banned on…
History
10 de noviembre de 1821
The day La Villa de Los Santos declared against the Spanish crown, moving ahead of the capital and pushing…
28 de noviembre de 1821
The date Panama became independent from Spain and chose to join Gran Colombia. It closes the month of…
3 de noviembre de 1903
The date Panama separated from Colombia, with U.S. backing tied to the Canal project. It is the main…
9 de enero
The date in 1964 when Panamanian students attempted to raise the national flag inside the Canal Zone…
ampliación del Canal
A third set of locks inaugurated in June 2016, approved by Panamanians in a 2006 referendum. It opened the…
Canal de Panamá
The interoceanic waterway opened in 1914, under U.S. administration until December 31, 1999, when it passed…
Día de la Etnia Negra
A commemoration established by law to recognize the Afro-descendant contribution to Panama, both the…
el Mundial de 2018
Panama's first World Cup qualification, secured on 10 October 2017 at the Rommel Fernández stadium. The…
la invasión
The U.S. invasion of Panama launched on December 20, 1989 to remove Manuel Antonio Noriega. The civilian…
la reversión
The definitive handover of the Canal and the reverted areas to Panamanian control, at noon on December 31…
Papeles de Panamá
The 2016 leak of millions of documents from a Panamanian law firm, published by an international consortium…
Tratado Hay–Bunau-Varilla
The treaty signed in November 1903 granting the United States control of the Canal strip "in perpetuity". It…
Tratados Torrijos-Carter
Agreements signed on September 7, 1977 between Omar Torrijos and Jimmy Carter, setting the transfer of the…
Zona del Canal
A strip of territory roughly 8 km on either side of the Canal, administered by the United States from 1903…
Zona Libre de Colón
A free-trade zone established in 1948 in the city of Colón, the largest in the Western Hemisphere and among…
Places
Albrook
A reverted area of the former Canal Zone that today concentrates the national bus terminal, the Marcos A…
archipiélago de Las Perlas
A group of islands in the Gulf of Panama named for colonial-era pearl fishing. Contadora is the best known…
Arraiján
A district of Panamá Oeste on the far side of the Canal, home to many who work in the capital. The bridge…
avenida Balboa
The coastal avenue running along the bay, connecting the financial district to Casco Viejo. It is the city's…
Bocas del Toro
A Caribbean archipelago and province with a strong Afro-Antillean and Ngäbe presence, a banana history tied…
Boquete
A mountain town in Chiriquí known for its cool climate, its high-altitude coffee (including Geisha, among…
Calidonia
A dense commercial district of the capital, built around Avenida Central. It is where you buy cheap, haggle…
Calzada de Amador
A road built out over the sea linking the city to four islands at the Canal entrance, made from rock…
carretera Panamericana
The highway crossing the country border to border, around which nearly all life in the interior is organized…
Casco Viejo
Panama City's historic center, founded in 1673 after the destruction of Panamá Viejo. A UNESCO World…
cerro Ancón
The hill overlooking the city, crowned by an oversized Panamanian flag. It lay inside the former Canal Zone…
Cerro Punta
A highland town in Chiriquí on the flanks of Barú, source of much of the country's vegetables and flowers…
Changuinola
A banana town in Bocas del Toro, on the mainland near the Costa Rican border. The banana company organized…
Chiriquí
A province in western Panama bordering Costa Rica. The country's main agricultural and cattle region, with a…
Chitré
Capital of Herrera and the main city of the Azuero Peninsula, the heartland of Panamanian folklore. A mass…
Cinta Costera
A linear park reclaimed from the sea along Panama Bay, with sports courts, a bike path and an expressway…
Ciudad del Saber
A campus of universities, international organizations and companies set up on the former Fort Clayton…
Coclé
A central province with its capital at Penonomé. It produces the sombrero pintao of La Pintada, sugarcane…
Coiba
Panama's largest island, in the Pacific off Veraguas. It served as a penal colony from 1919 to 2004, which…
Colón
Panama's second city, at the Caribbean entrance of the Canal, founded in 1850 with the transisthmian…
comarca Emberá-Wounaan
An Indigenous comarca created in 1983 in Darién, the territory of the Emberá and Wounaan peoples. They are…
Costa del Este
A planned district of towers and wide avenues, built on reclaimed land at the water's edge where a landfill…
Darién
A jungle province bordering Colombia. The "Darién Gap" is the only break in the Pan-American Highway along…
David
Capital of Chiriquí and Panama's third city. The commercial and services hub for the entire west of the…
El Cangrejo
A Panama City neighborhood known for its nightlife, its density of restaurants and its large…
El Chorrillo
A working-class neighborhood of Panama City next to the Casco Antiguo. Partly built to house Canal workers…
El Valle de Antón
A town in Coclé sitting inside the crater of an extinct volcano, a thousand meters up and cool year round…
esclusas de Miraflores
The Pacific-side locks of the Canal and their visitor center — the spot where nearly everyone who comes to…
Gatún
The artificial lake created by damming the Chagres River to build the Canal, and the Atlantic-side locks…
Guararé
A town in Los Santos where the National Mejorana Festival is held every September — Panama's largest…
Guna Yala
The autonomous indigenous comarca of the Guna people on the Caribbean coast, made up of a mainland strip and…
Herrera
A small interior province with its capital at Chitré. It concentrates cane, cattle and a density of fairs…
Instituto Nacional
Panama City's emblematic public high school, founded in 1909 and known as "the Eagles' Nest". Its students…
Instituto Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales
A research institution with a permanent base in Panama dating to the Canal construction era, devoted to the…
Isla Barro Colorado
An island formed when the Chagres valley was flooded to create Gatún Lake, now a Smithsonian research…
La Chorrera
The capital of Panamá Oeste province and a commuter city for Panama City. It is famous for its chicheme…
La Pintada
A town in Coclé recognized as the main center for making the sombrero pintao, whose craftsmanship was…
la Transístmica
The road crossing the isthmus from Panama City to Colón, ocean to ocean in under two hours. Inside the…
La Villa de Los Santos
A town in Los Santos province where the First Cry of Independence was signed on November 10, 1821. Home to…
Las Tablas
The capital of Los Santos province, famous for hosting Panama's best-known Carnival, structured around the…
los corredores
The capital's two toll highways. The Corredor Sur runs along the water toward Tocumen airport; the Corredor…
Los Santos
A province in the south of the Azuero peninsula, with its capital at Las Tablas. It is the heart of…
Mercado de Mariscos
The capital's fish market, beside the bay. You buy the day's catch downstairs and eat upstairs; the cup of…
Metro de Panamá
Central America's first metro system, opened in 2014. Line 1 connects Albrook with the north of the city…
MetroBus
The urban bus system that replaced the diablos rojos from 2010 onward, using a prepaid card shared with the…
Natá
A town in Coclé founded in 1522, one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on the American…
Ngäbe-Buglé
A comarca created in 1997 from territory in Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas. Home to Panama's largest…
Ocú
A town in Herrera known for its craft traditions — the ocueño sombrero pintao and embroidered camisilla…
Panamá
The capital's province, home to nearly half the country. Note the name: Panamá is the country, the province…
Panamá Oeste
Panama's youngest province, created in 2014 when it split from Panamá province. Its capital is La Chorrera…
Panamá Viejo
The ruins of the original Panama City, founded in 1519 and destroyed in 1671 during the raid by the pirate…
Pedasí
A fishing town at the southern tip of Los Santos, with quiet streets and low houses, now a beach destination…
Penonomé
The capital of Coclé province, midway between Panama City and the deep interior. An obligatory stop on the…
Pesé
A town in Herrera surrounded by sugarcane, home to the distillery that produces Seco Herrerano and Ron…
Playa Venao
A horseshoe beach in Los Santos with steady surf, which went from fishing cove to Panama's surf capital and…
Portobelo
A coastal town in Colón province, a key port of the Spanish empire where the fairs that moved Peruvian…
Puente Centenario
The second bridge over the Canal, opened in 2004 to relieve the Bridge of the Americas. Its name marks the…
Puente de las Américas
The 1962 bridge over the Pacific entrance of the Canal, the first land link between its two banks. "Crossing…
San Miguelito
A populous district north of the capital with its own municipality, born of mid-twentieth-century urban…
Santa Ana
A historic Panama City neighborhood, cradle of the arrabal and of urban tamborito. Its park was for decades…
Santiago
The capital of Veraguas and the halfway stop on any long trip along the Panamericana. Anyone heading to…
Taboga
An island off the capital, under an hour by ferry, known as the island of flowers. It is the beach for…
Tapón del Darién
A stretch of jungle and swamp between Panama and Colombia, the only break in the Panamerican Highway between…
Tocumen
Tocumen International Airport, Panama's main air gateway and Copa Airlines' hub. It markets itself as "the…
Tumba Muerto
The popular name for Avenida Ricardo J. Alfaro, a main artery of Panama City. Almost nobody uses the…
Universidad de Panamá
The public university founded in 1935, with campuses in every province. Its grounds have been the stage for…
Veraguas
The only Panamanian province with coastline on both oceans, with its capital at Santiago. Its territory runs…
Vía España
A historic commercial avenue in Panama City, the axis of capital-city retail for decades before the rise of…
Volcán Barú
Panama's highest point, 3,475 meters, in Chiriquí province. On clear days both the Pacific Ocean and the…
Yaviza
A town in Darién where the Panamerican Highway ends. Beyond it you continue by dugout canoe or on foot: this…
People
Arnulfo Arias
Elected president three times and overthrown each time, founder of panameñismo and the most divisive figure…
Belisario Porras
President across three terms between 1912 and 1924, regarded as the builder of the modern Panamanian state…
Danilo Pérez
Panamanian jazz pianist and composer born in 1965, a member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet and founder of the…
El General
Stage name of Edgardo Franco, Panamanian pioneer of Spanish-language reggae. His 1990s hits — "Tu Pum Pum"…
Irving Saladino
A long jumper from Colón who won Panama's first Olympic gold medal in Beijing 2008. The whole country…
Justo Arosemena
A nineteenth-century jurist and thinker who drove the creation of the Federal State of Panama within…
Manuel Amador Guerrero
Panama's first president, from 1904 to 1908, and a central figure in the separation from Colombia. A…
Manuel Antonio Noriega
Panamanian military officer (1934-2017), the country's strongman between 1983 and 1989. He was removed by…
Mariano Rivera
Panamanian baseball player born in Puerto Caimito in 1969, the New York Yankees' legendary closer and…
Mireya Moscoso
Panama's first woman president, from 1999 to 2004. It fell to her to receive the Canal from the United…
Nando Boom
A Panamanian pioneer of Spanish-language reggae in the late eighties and early nineties, alongside El…
Omar Torrijos
Panamanian military and political leader (1929-1981), de facto ruler from 1968. He negotiated the treaties…
Ricardo Miró
An early twentieth-century Panamanian poet, author of the patriotic poem most recited in the country's…
Roberto Durán
Panamanian boxer born in 1951 in El Chorrillo, a world champion across four weight classes and considered…
Rod Carew
Panamanian baseball player born in Gatún, Colón province, in 1945. A seven-time Major League batting…
Rubén Blades
Panamanian singer, songwriter, actor and lawyer born in 1948. A central figure in socially conscious salsa…
Samy y Sandra Sandoval
A brother-and-sister duo who took típico music to big stages and national radio. At any interior fair, their…
Sech
A Panamanian urban music artist, among the country's most internationally visible since 2019. His success…
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
The Spanish conquistador who crossed the isthmus in 1513 and sighted the Pacific from American land. He was…
Victoriano Lorenzo
A peasant and Indigenous leader from Coclé who fought in the War of a Thousand Days at the head of his own…
Bureaucracy
120 a los 65
A monthly transfer program for older adults without a pension. It began as "100 a los 70" and has changed in…
ATTT
The land transit and transport authority: driver's licenses, plates, fines and public transport regulation…
Banco Nacional de Panamá
The state bank through which much of the country's public money flows: government payroll, pensions and…
Beca Universal
A state stipend for public and private school students, administered by IFARHU and conditional on keeping up…
Caja de Ahorros
The state savings and loan bank, closely tied to mortgages and personal loans for public employees. Not to…
Clave
The national ATM and debit-card payment network. "Pagar con Clave" means paying by debit, and the brand name…
Crisol de Razas
A migratory regularization program through which thousands of foreigners obtained residency in Panama, run…
DGI
Panama's tax authority, under the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It issues the RUC, receives income tax…
el APC
Panama's credit bureau. "Estar en el APC" means having a negative record, and one unpaid phone bill can sink…
el Seguro
The Social Security Fund, the institution that administers health care and pensions in Panama. Its financial…
MEDUCA
The Ministry of Education, which sets the school calendar, the curriculum and school accreditation. Panama's…
MINSA
The Ministry of Health, which serves the uninsured population and regulates everything sanitary. It coexists…
MITRADEL
The Ministry of Labor and Labor Development. It registers contracts, authorizes work permits for foreigners…
planilla 172
The common name for the state's discretionary payroll, paid outside the conditions of a regular post. It is…
Registro Público
The institution where property, corporations and legal acts are recorded in Panama. Checking the Registro…
Tribunal Electoral
The autonomous body that runs elections and administers Panama's civil registry: births, marriages, deaths…
Yappy
Banco General's mobile payment platform, in mass use across Panama. It has become a verb: "yappéame" means…