Posts Tagged ‘Panama Land’
The Lay of the Panama Land
Panama is the southernmost country in Central America. It occupies an area of about 30,000 square miles, which is about the size of South Carolina. Bordered by Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east, it is a long narrow country in the shape of a horizontal S. The country is between 50 and 120 miles wide and is bounded on each side by 477 miles of Caribbean and 767miles of Pacific coastline. Thus, the country has almost endless coastline on both sides for beach lovers. The Isthmus of Panama is the narrowest landmass between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the narrowest point being about 35 miles wide. The Panama Canal, which is about 60 miles long and divides the country into eastern and western regions.
A mountain chain stretches almost the entire length of the country. The highest peaks of this range are in the west. Volcán Barú in western Chiriquí Province is the highest point in the country. The country also has around 500 rivers, which empty into the Caribbean and Pacific.
Panama also has a large number of islands scattered on both sides of the isthmus. The two main island groups, both on the Caribbean side, are the Bocas del Toro and San Blás Archipelagos.
Due to its climate Panama has a wide variety of animal and plant life. Panama’s lush verdant forests contain the greatest number of species of all the new world’s countries north of Colombia. Thirty percent of the country’s total land is set aside for conservation.
Politically Panama is divided into nine provinces two Indian territories (Comarcas): Bocas del Toro, Coclé, Chriquí, Darién, Herrera, Los Santos, Panama, Veraguas and the Comarcas of Kuna Yala and Emberá.
