ABOUT PANAMA

Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country located at the southern end of Central America on the Isthmus of Panama. It borders Costa Rica and Colombia, which was once part of. The channel of the same name, formerly American Panama Canal, is now a major source of funding for the Panamanian state.

In addition to the isthmus, Panama is composed of 1,500 islands, mostly uninhabited and hidden in thick vegetation. These islands are grouped into four regions. In the Caribbean, there are the archipelagos of Bocas del Toro and San Blas; Las Perlas Archipelago in the Gulf of Panama and Coiba Island and its cortege of small islands in the Gulf of Chiriqui.

For centuries, Panama is a place of passage, we go there to somewhere else, a bridge between continents and the link between oceans. Lately, Panama is attracting more and more travelers of a different kind, tourist transfixed by its beauty and seduced by its quaint but not jaded charm.

• Capital: Ciudad de Panama
• Area: 75,990 km ²
• Population: 4,058,373 (est. 2016)
• Language: Spanish and Native languages
• Religions: Roman Catholic (in great majority)
• Government: Multi-party system with a legislature composed of 72 members elected by universal suffrage. Members as the president and vice president are elected for a period of 5 years, and can not be re-elected for a 2nd term. The country is divided into ten provinces to which is added the Comarca of San Blas, which is considered part of the province of Colon in most official documents.
• Currency: Balboa, fixed parity with the American Dollar (USD). Balboa does not exist in the form of bank notes; American Dollars banknotes are used. For coins Panama used indifferently centavos de Balboa and American cents, both are the same size.