Panama

Panama

AREA	75,517 sq km (29,157 sq miles).
POPULATION	2,719,000 (1997).
POPULATION DENSITY	36.0 per sq km.
CAPITAL	Panama City.
CAPITAL POPULATION	766,405 (1997).
GEOGRAPHY	Panama forms the land link between the North and South American continents. Panama borders Colombia to the east, Costa Rica to the west, and the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean to the north and south. The country forms an S-shaped isthmus which runs east–west over a total length of 772km (480 miles) and is 60-177km (37-110 miles) wide. The landscape is mountainous with lowlands on both coastlines cut by streams, wooded slopes and a wide area of savannah-covered plains and rolling hills called El Interior between the Azuero peninsula and the Central Mountains. The Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean are linked by the man-made Panama Canal, cut into a gap between the Cordillera de Talamanca and the San Blas mountain range and stretching for over 65km (40 miles); the length of the Canal is often referred to as 80km (50 miles) as this is the distance between deep-water points of entry. Only about a quarter of the country is inhabited. The majority of the population live either around the Canal and main cities of Panama City and Colón (the two cities which control the entrance and exit of the Canal) or in the Pacific lowlands and the adjacent mountains.
GOVERNMENT	Republic. Gained independence from Colombia in 1903. Head of State and Government: President Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez since 1999.
LANGUAGE	The official language is Spanish, but English is widely spoken.
RELIGION	85% Roman Catholic.
STANDARD TIME	GMT - 5.
ELECTRICITY	120 volts AC, 60Hz. Plugs are the flat 2-pin American type.

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