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Panama Cruises with Carnival
Panama, republic in Central America, located on the
narrow strip of land that connects North and South America. Its position
between two continents and separating two oceans has played a defining
role in Panama’s history and the livelihoods of its people.
Panama is crossed by mountain ranges, covered with large areas of rain
forest, and bounded by two long coastlines studded with islands and
bays. At several places it spans less than a hundred miles from its
Atlantic coastline to its Pacific shores. Most of its people and
economic activity are located in the central region surrounding the
Panama Canal, the major waterway that has played a decisive role in the
country’s history. Panama City, the capital and largest city, is on the
Pacific coast in this central zone. The nation’s diverse population is
largely of mixed Spanish, black, and Native American descent, but
includes indigenous people and immigrants from many parts of the world.
As a land bridge between two continents, Panama developed plant and
animal life more diverse than almost anywhere else on Earth. Prehistoric
inhabitants of the Americas crossed Panama to reach South America and
continued to migrate back and forth, sharing trade goods and culture and
using the rich natural resources of the isthmus.
The earliest Europeans to explore Panama recognized its value as a link
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For two centuries, Spain used
Panama as a major commercial center in its American colonies, shipping
trade goods and African slaves to Peru and thousands of tons of silver
and gold to Spain. In the 17th century Panama handled a significant
share of world trade.
By the 19th century, new technologies and machinery, such as
steam-powered shovels and trains, steel, and reinforced concrete, made
it possible to attempt to fulfill a longtime European dream of building
a canal across Panama. In the 1880s a French company lost a fortune and
thousands of lives trying unsuccessfully to dig a sea-level canal. In
1903 the United States government helped Panama, then a province of
Colombia, to become an independent nation. The United States then
acquired permission from the new republic to build a canal.
The Panama Canal, completed in 1914, represented a great engineering
achievement. But a controversial treaty gave the United States control
over the canal and important segments of Panama’s territory and economy.
This prevented Panamanians from controlling a facility they considered
crucial for their well-being and national development. Much of modern
Panama’s history centers on the struggle of its people to benefit from
the Panama Canal and the lands through which it passed, the Panama Canal
Zone.
While pursuing that goal, Panama developed its own unique culture and
system of government and built an economy that did not depend solely on
the canal. Issues concerning the canal caused tension with the United
States through much of the 20th century. In the 1970s new treaties
brought Panama's goal of controlling the canal, and its own destiny,
within reach. Under these agreements, Panama took possession of the
Panama Canal on December 31, 1999. Other conflicts between Panama's
government and the United States, however, led to a U.S. invasion in
1989 to overthrow the dictatorship of Manuel Antonio Noriega.
The Destinations of Carnival.
There are many
DESTINATIONS making
stops in ports all over the world. See what
you can experiences on one of our Carnival Cruises.
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