Panama Essay

Panama is the southernmost country of Central America. It sits on the isthmus connecting north and South America. Panama remains bordered by Costa Rica to the west. Colombia is to the southeast. The Caribbean is to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Panama City is the capital of Panama. Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821.Panama has the third largest economy in Central America and it is the fastest growing economy and the largest per capita consumer in Central America. In 2013, Panama ranked fourth in Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index, and is ranked 59th in the world. Studies in 2010 show that Panama remains as the second most competitive economy in Latin America. Panama’s jungle is home to an abundance of tropical plants, animals, and birds and some of them found nowhere else in the world.

Geography

Panama is located in Central America, and it borders the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. On rare occasions, some people consider the territory east of the Panama Canal as part of South America. The location on the Isthmus of Panama is strategic. By 2000, Panama gained control of the Panama Canal, and it connects the Atlantic and the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean. Panama is ranked 118th worldwide based on land size. For comparison, Panama is slightly smaller than South Carolina or slightly larger than New Brunswick in Canada. The biggest feature of the country's landform is the central spine of mountains and hills that form something called a continental divide. This does not form part of the mountain regions of North America. The divide that is formed by the spine is the highly eroded arch of uplift from the sea bottom, i...

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...Panama presently has two reigning world boxing champions: Guillermo Jones and Anselmo Moreno. Basketball is popular in Panama; there are regional teams as well as a squad that competes internationally. Among Panama's most prominent basketball players are Rolando Blackman (four-time NBA All-Star) and Harlem Globetrotters' star Kevin Daley. Long jumper Irving Saladino became the first Panamanian Olympic gold medalist in 2008. Other popular sports include volleyball, taekwondo, soccer, golf, and tennis. A long-distance hiking trail called the TransPanama Trail is being built from Colombia to Costa Rica. In 2012, eight different athletes represented Panama in the London 2012 Olympics. Irving Saladino in Long Jump, Alonso Edward in Track and Field, Andrea Ferris in Track and Field, Diego Castillo in Swimming, Carolena Carstens who was 16 competing in the taekwondo.