 Where In The World?
Where in the World is Panama?
It's time to get out your globe! You need to know about the imaginary lines on globes and maps. These lines are called lines of latitude and longitude, and they tell a pilot or ship's captain exactly where in the world a certain place is located. Basically, latitude lines (also called parallels) are the horizontal lines on your map. Lines of longitude (also called meridians) are the vertical lines that run from the North Pole to the South Pole. This mapping system is written in degrees and uses the symbol . Get ready to travel the world!
Find longitude 80 W and latitude 9 N, and you will find the country of Panama. This country is located in Central America. It borders the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica. It is on the eastern end of an isthmus forming a land bridge that connects North and South America.
Panama is a little smaller than our state of South Carolina. It is a tropical country and is hot and humid. They have a long rainy season, from May to January, and a short dry season from January to May. The land near the coast has plains and rolling hills. The interior part of the country has steep, rugged mountains.
Panama was first explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century. In 1821, Panama split from Spain and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, which was then made up of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. This republic dissolved in 1830, but Panama remained a part of Colombia. In 1903, with the support of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia. The country's leaders signed a treaty with the US allowing for the construction of the Panama Canal. It was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. The canal was turned over to Panama in 1999, and the Panamanians are currently working on an expansion of the canal, which should be complete in 2015. With the help of the US, dictator Manuel Noriega was removed from power in 1989. The country is a constitutional democracy.
Sources: The World Factbook prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency.
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