PANAMA CITY

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'Panama City' (Spanish: ''Ciudad de Panamá'') is the capital and largest city and conurbation of the Republic of Panama as well as the Panamá Province. It has a population of 708,738, with a total metro population of 1,063,000, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, at . Panama City is the political, administrative and cultural center of the country. Juan Carlos Navarro is the current mayor of the city.
Recently, Panama City has become one of the most important financial and touristic centers in the Americas, with more than 104 banks, and has become a hub for high-rise buildings (eight of the ten tallest skyscrapers in Latin America), commerce and industrialization. The city enjoys five large multilevel malls and many five-star hotels. Panama City was chosen to be the American Capital of Culture for the year 2003 (jointly, with Curitiba, Brazil).

Contents

History

Panama City as a tourist destination

Photographs of the city

Nature

Urban planning problems

Transportation

See also

References

External links

History

The city was founded on August 15, 1519, by Pedro Arias de Ávila, also known as Pedrarias Dávila. Within a few years of its founding, the city became a launching point for the exploration and conquest of Peru and a transit point for gold and silver headed back to Spain through the Isthmus. In 1671 Henry Morgan with a band of 1400 men attacked and looted the city, which was subsequently destroyed by fire. The ruins of the old city still remain and are a popular tourist attraction known as ''Panamá la Vieja'' (Old Panama). It was rebuilt in 1673 in a new location approximately 5 miles southwest of the original city. This location is now known as the ''Casco Viejo'' (Old Quarter) of the city.
One year before the start of the California Gold Rush, the Panama Railroad Company was formed,^[1] but the railroad did not begin operation until 1855.^[2] Between 1848 and 1869, the year the first transcontinental railroad was completed in the United States, about 375,000 persons crossed the isthmus from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 225,000 in the opposite direction. That traffic greatly increased the prosperity of the city during that period.

The construction of the Panama Canal was of great benefit to the infrastructure and economy. Of particular note are the improvements in health and sanitation brought about by the American presence in the Canal Zone. These include the eradication of yellow fever and malaria and the introduction of a first-rate water supply system. However, most of the laborers for the construction of the canal were brought in from the Caribbean, which created unprecedented racial and social tensions in the city.
During World War II, construction of military bases and the presence of larger numbers of U.S. military and civilian personnel brought about unprecedented levels of prosperity to the city. Panamanians had limited access, or no access at all, to many areas in the Canal Zone neighboring the Panama City metropolitan area. Some of these areas were military bases accessible only to United States personnel. Some tensions arose between the people of Panama and the U.S. citizens living in the Panama Canal Zone. This erupted in the January 9, 1964 events, known as Martyrs' Day.
In the late 1970s through the 1980s Panama City became an international banking center, bringing a lot of undesirable attention as an international money-laundering center. In 1989 after nearly a year of tension between the United States and Panama, President George H. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama to depose the leader of Panama, General Manuel Noriega. As a result of the action a portion of the ''El Chorrillo'' neighborhood, which consisted mostly of old wood-framed buildings dating back to the 1900s (though still a large slum area), was destroyed by fire. Eventually, the U.S. helped finance the construction of large cinderblock apartment buildings to replace the destroyed structures. Panama City remains a banking center, although with very visible controls in the flow of cash. Shipping is handled through port facilities in the area of Balboa operated by the Hutchison Whampoa Company of Hong Kong and through several ports on the Caribbean side of the isthmus. Balboa, which is located within the greater Panama City metropolitan area, was formerly part of the Panama Canal Zone, and in fact the administration of the former Panama Canal Zone was headquartered there.

Panama City as a tourist destination

The city has numerous tourist attractions including world-class hotels and restaurants. Particularly interesting for tourists are various sites located in the old quarter (also commonly referred to as "Casco Viejo", "Casco Antiguo" or "San Felipe"), including

★ ''Las Bóvedas'',^[3] literally ''The Vaults'', a waterfront promenade jutting out into the Pacific;

★ The National Institute of Culture Building and across from it, the French Embassy;

★ The Cathedral on ''Plaza de la Catedral'';

★ ''Teatro Nacional'', a recently renovated performance center, with outstanding natural acoustics; It provides an intimate performance environment and seating for about 800 guests.

★ ''Museo del Canal Interoceánico'' (Interoceanic Canal Museum);

★ Numerous restaurants located near the French embassy.

★ ''Palacio de las Garzas'' (Heron's Palace), the official name of the presidential palace. There are real herons in the compound.
Further southwest one can climb Ancon Hill and get an overview of the city (see photograph at the end of the article) with the well-known Bridge of the Americas spanning over the Panama Canal. There is only one other bridge over the Panama Canal, the Centennial Bridge, which was completed in 2003 and is now becoming an attraction.

Recently relocated to the entrance of ''Curundu Heights'' in the former Panama Canal Zone is the ''Museo Antropológico Reina Torres de Araúz'' (''Reina Torres de Arauz'' Anthropological Museum) — better known by its Spanish acronym 'MARTA' — with precious metal artifacts from pre-Columbian Panama.
The area immediately east of the Pacific entrance of the canal--known as the Amador Causeway^[4]-- is currently being developed as a major tourist center with many North American style malls, hotels, nightclubs, and restaurants. Currently the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute operates a station and a small museum open to the public on Culebra Island, just off the island of Naos (See inset). A new museum, ''The Bridge of Life Museum'', is currently under construction on the causeway. The Bridge of Life Museum was designed by the American architect Frank Gehry famous for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Disney Concert Center in Los Angeles and it is scheduled to be completed in 2007.^[5]
The city is growing as a haven for seniors from the United States due to low-tax incentives and a tropical climate. The demand for space in Panama City has sparked a construction boom and skyscrapers are being to built as condos to supply the number of people entering the city. The city enjoys three multilevel American Style Malls: Multicentro, Multiplaza and Albrook Mall

Photographs of the city

Nature

Panama City is located between the Pacific Ocean and many tropical rain forests. The ''Parque Natural Metropolitano'' (Metropolitan Nature Park), stretching from Panama city along the Panama Canal, has several unique bird species and other animals such as tapir, puma, alligators, etc. At the Pacific entrance of the canal is the ''Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas'' (Marine Exhibitions Center), a research center for those interested in tropical marine life and ecology. Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas is managed by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Tropical forests around Panama City are vital for the functioning of the Panama Canal. These forests provide the canal with the watershed required for its operation (a rare example of a vast engineering project in the middle of the forest which actually helped preserve that very nature). Due to the importance of the Canal to the Panamanian economy, tropical forests around the canal have been kept in an almost pristine state. Along the western side of the Canal is the ''Parque Nacional Soberania'' (Sovereignty National Park) which includes Summit botanical gardens and a zoo. In this national park, the best known trail is the Pipeline Road, very popular among birdwatchers.^[6]

Urban planning problems

Due to many years of growth without any planning, Panama City is facing several urban problems. With the new Skyscrapers population density is growing far beyond expected, neighborhoods like El Cangrejo and El Carmen, designed for a density of 10 000/km² are now reaching a 35 000/km² density. The city's downtown streets are overcrowded with cars, creating many traffic problems for commuters. The old pipe system of Panama City isn't getting enough maintenance and is causing several water pollution-related problems.
Another important problem is the shape of the city: instead of the usual circular shape, Panama City has assumed the form of a narrow strip following the coast, growing to the northeast. This is because Panama City is limited in the south by the Pacific Ocean, in the north by the protected lands of the Metropolitan Park and other parks of the Panama Canal Basin, and in the west by the Panama Canal itself with more protected land areas beyond it. Subsequently Panama City has expanded towards east and northeast.

Transportation

Panama City's international airport, Tocumen International Airport, located on the eastern outskirts of the city, is easily accessible. There are direct flights between Tocumen and New York, Newark, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Houston, Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Madrid and all major cities in the Caribbean area, Central America and South America. Panama City also has a regional airport ''Marcos A. Gelabert'', located in an area once occupied by Albrook Air Force Base. Marcos A. Gelabert Airport is the main hub for regional flights within Panama and the Pearl Islands in the Pacific.
Panama City has an extensive and efficient, yet confusing to tourists, form of public transportation consisting of colorful painted buses colloquially known as ''diablo rojo''. A ''diablo rojo'' is usually "customized" or painted with bright colors, usually depicting famous actors, politicians or singers. It is now popular all over the city (and also in neighboring towns) for bus drivers to personally customize the interior and exterior of their ''diablo rojo''. There is also a bus terminal near the ''Marcos A. Gelabert'' airport which together with the airport serves as the main transport hub for the rest of the country.
Panama City is in the process of implementing a more modern bus system (bus rapid transit) that will roughly cost US$100 million. Construction works (additional bus lanes, bus stops) are now progressing and should be completed in the first quarter of 2009 according to "La Prensa" newspaper.

See also

★ List of cities in Panama

References

1. ''The Panama Railroad'' from Trainweb
2. ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine'' March 1855, Volume 10, Issue 58, p.543
3. Las Bovedas: Casco Viejo Bar
4. Jogging in Paradise...but where is everbody? ''The Panama Report''
5. Panama:Bridge of Life|Biodiversity Museum
6. Canopy Tower, a famous birdwatchers hotel

External links

★ Official website for Panama City

★ Official Panama's Tourism Bureau page

★ City Guide for Panama City

★ Tourism in Panama