Panama Table of Contents
Panama is located on the narrowest and lowest part of the Isthmus of
Panama that links North America and South America. This S-shaped part of
the isthmus is situated between 7? and 10? north latitude and 77? and
83? west longitude. Slightly smaller than South Carolina, Panama
encompasses approximately 77,082 square kilometers, is 772 kilometers in
length, and is between 60 and 177 kilometers in width.
Panama's two coastlines are referred to as the Caribbean (or
Atlantic) and Pacific, rather than the north and south coasts. To the
east is Colombia and to the west Costa Rica. Because of the location and
contour of the country, directions expressed in terms of the compass are
often surprising. For example, a transit of the Panama Canal from the
Pacific to the Caribbean involves travel not to the east but to the
northwest, and in Panama City the sunrise is to the east over the
Pacific.
The country is divided into nine provinces, plus the Comarca de San
Blas, which for statistical purposes is treated as part of Col?n
Province in most official documents. The provincial borders have not
changed since they were determined at independence in 1903. The
provinces are divided into districts, which in turn are subdivided into
sections called
corregimientos
. Configurations of the
corregimientos
are changed periodically to accommodate population changes as revealed
in the census reports.
The country's two international boundaries, with Colombia and Costa
Rica, have been clearly demarcated, and in the late 1980s there were no
outstanding disputes. The country claims the seabed of the continental
shelf, which has been defined by Panama to extend to the 500-meter
submarine contour. In addition, a 1958 law asserts jurisdiction over 12
nautical miles from the coastlines, and in 1968 the government announced
a claim to a 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.
The Caribbean coastline is marked by several good natural harbors.
However, Crist?bal, at the Caribbean terminus of the canal, had the
only important port facilities in the late 1980s. The numerous islands
of the Archipi?lago de Bocas del Toro, near the Costa Rican border,
provide an extensive natural roadstead and shield the banana port of
Almirante. The over 350 San Blas Islands, near Colombia, are strung out
for more than 160 kilometers along the sheltered Caribbean coastline.
The major port on the Pacific coastline is Balboa. The principal
islands are those of the Archipi?lago de las Perlas in the middle of
the Gulf of Panama, the penal colony on the Isla de Coiba in the Golfo
de Chiriqu?, and the decorative island of Taboga, a tourist attraction
that can be seen from Panama City. In all, there are some 1,000 islands
off the Pacific coast.
The Pacific coastal waters are extraordinarily shallow. Depths of 180
meters are reached only outside the perimeters of both the Gulf of
Panama and the Golfo de Chiriqu?, and wide mud flats extend up to 70
kilometers seaward from the coastlines. As a consequence, the tidal
range is extreme. A variation of about 70 centimeters between high and
low water on the Caribbean coast contrasts sharply with over 700
centimeters on the Pacific coast, and some 130 kilometers up the R?o
Tuira the range is still over 500 centimeters.
The dominant feature of the country's landform is the central spine
of mountains and hills that forms the continental divide. The divide does not form part of the great mountain chains of
North America, and only near the Colombian border are there highlands
related to the Andean system of South America. The spine that forms the
divide is the highly eroded arch of an uplift from the sea bottom, in
which peaks were formed by volcanic intrusions.
The mountain range of the divide is called the Cordillera de
Talamanca near the Costa Rican border. Farther east it becomes the
Serran?a de Tabasar?, and the portion of it closer to the lower saddle
of the isthmus, where the canal is located, is often called the Sierra
de Veraguas. As a whole, the range between Costa Rica and the canal is
generally referred to by Panamanian geographers as the Cordillera
Central.
The highest point in the country is the Volc?n Bar? (formerly known
as the Volc?n de Chiriqu?), which rises to almost 3,500 meters. The
apex of a highland that includes the nation's richest soil, the Volc?n
Bar? is still referred to as a volcano, although it has been inactive
for millennia.
Nearly 500 rivers lace Panama's rugged landscape. Mostly unnavigable,
many originate as swift highland streams, meander in valleys, and form
coastal deltas. However, the R?o Chepo and the R?o Chagres are sources
of hydroelectric power.
The R?o Chagres is one of the longest and most vital of the
approximately 150 rivers that flow into the Caribbean. Part of this
river was dammed to create Gatun Lake, which forms a major part of the
transit route between the locks near each end of the canal. Both Gatun
Lake and Madden Lake (also filled with water from the R?o Chagres)
provide hydroelectricity for the area of the former Canal Zone.
The R?o Chepo, another major source of hydroelectric power, is one
of the more than 300 rivers emptying into the Pacific. These
Pacific-oriented rivers are longer and slower running than those of the
Caribbean side. Their basins are also more extensive. One of the longest
is the R?o Tuira, which flows into the Golfo de San Miguel and is the
nation's only river navigable by larger vessels.
Panama has a tropical climate. Temperatures are uniformly high- -as
is the relative humidity--and there is little seasonal variation.
Diurnal ranges are low; on a typical dry-season day in the capital city,
the early morning minimum may be 24?C and the afternoon maximum 29?C.
The temperature seldom exceeds 32?C for more than a short time.
Temperatures on the Pacific side of the isthmus are somewhat lower
than on the Caribbean, and breezes tend to rise after dusk in most parts
of the country. Temperatures are markedly cooler in the higher parts of
the mountain ranges, and frosts occur in the Cordillera de Talamanca in
western Panama.
Climatic regions are determined less on the basis of temperature than
on rainfall, which varies regionally from less than 1.3 to more than 3
meters per year. Almost all of the rain falls during the rainy season,
which is usually from April to December, but varies in length from seven
to nine months. The cycle of rainfall is determined primarily by two
factors: moisture from the Caribbean, which is transported by north and
northeast winds prevailing during most of the year, and the continental
divide, which acts as a rainshield for the Pacific lowlands. A third
influence that is present during the late autumn is the southwest wind
off the Pacific. This wind brings some precipitation to the Pacific
lowlands, modified by the highlands of the Pen?nsula de Azuero, which
form a partial rainshield for much of central Panama. In general,
rainfall is much heavier on the Caribbean than on the Pacific side of
the continental divide. The annual average in Panama City is little more
than half of that in Col?n. Although rainy-season thunderstorms are
common, the country is outside the hurricane track.
Panama's tropical environment supports an abundance of plants.
Forests dominate, interrupted in places by grasslands, scrub, and crops.
Although nearly 40 percent of Panama is still wooded, deforestation is a
continuing threat to the rain-drenched woodlands. Tree cover has been
reduced by more than 50 percent since the 1940s. Subsistence farming,
widely practiced from the northeastern jungles to the southwestern
grasslands, consists largely of corn, bean, and tuber plots. Mangrove
swamps occur along parts of both coasts, with banana plantations
occupying deltas near Costa Rica. In many places, a multi-canopied rain
forest abuts the swamp on one side of the country and extends to the
lower reaches of slopes in the other.
Source:
U.S. Library of Congress
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