Panama History

The first inhabitants of Panama were the tribes of the Kuna, the Ngöbe-Buglé, the Emberá, the Wounaan and the Naso. The leading type of the activities of Panama’s first peoples was fishing. Pre-Columbian Panama extended as far south as Peru and as far north as Mexico. Panama was discovered by Spanish explorer Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1510. Columbus became the governor of colonized Veraguas. The first Spanish settlement in the continental New World was Nombre de Dios. Pedrarias established Panamá as an important Spanish settlement, a commercial center and a base for further explorations. Panama burnt to the ground so the Spanish had to rebuild the city. The Spanish abandoned the Panama in 1739. Only in 1821 Panama gained independence from Spain, but all the same it remained a province of Colombia. As for the economy of that period, Panama grew wealthy from the railway. The construction of The Panama Canal began again in 1904. Full Panamanian control of the canal was guaranteed by the Torrijos-Carter Treaty, signed December 31, 1999.