Panama
Panama (officially Republic of Panama) is a country in Central America, with its capital at Panama City, and is home to roughly 4.5M people.
Spanish is the official language; the currency in circulation is Panamanian balboa (B/.) and United States dollar ($); people from here are called Panamanian.
- »The canal lifts ships 26 m above sea level using freshwater locks fed by an artificial lake.
- »Because of how the isthmus curves, the sun rises over the Pacific and sets over the Atlantic at the canal.
Panama touches two neighbours: Colombia to the southeast and Costa Rica to the west. Directions run from one centre to the other.
Panama City was the first European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas. The original site was sacked by Henry Morgan in 1671 and the city rebuilt a few kilometres away.
74,197 km² (28,648 sq mi), 116th largest of 198 countries and territories on file, almost exactly the size of Sierra Leone.
Population 4,515,577, 128th of 198 on file. That averages 61 per km² (158 per sq mi).
The quartered design was meant to represent the two rival political parties sharing power: blue for the Conservatives, red for the Liberals, with white for peace between them.