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Panama, the bridge between Central and South America, has much more to offer besides its famous Canal! Because of its unique position as a pathway between two continents, Panama's natural and human histories speak of a variety of origins -- southern, northern, and European. The land mass is shaped roughly like a tilde (the squiggly line over some "n" letters in Spanish) and runs east/west, with the western border joining Costa Rica and the east adjoining Columbia. Eastern Panama is home to the Darien "Gap" in the Transamerican Highway, the only unfinished section from Alaska to Cape Horn.
Panama has six remaining groups of native people: the Guaymi, the Naso/Teribe, and the Bribri in the west, the Wounaan and Embera on the Pacific side of the Darien, and the Kuna of the Caribbean. Unlike the situation in many Central American countries, the native populations in Panama have established a political presence -- most are represented in the federal government and laws for individual native groups are respected within the territory of each group.
Panama's economy is based mostly on income from the Canal and because of this, the official currency is the US dollar. Since the Carter/Torrijos Treaty went into effect on December 31 of 1999, all US military presence is gone from the country and the ownership and operation of the Canal is solely in the hands of Panama. Like Costa Rica, Panama has no standing army, and security is provided by police and border patrols. The government is democratically elected and the country is politically stable. The crime rate is lower than most US cities.
