|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Crossroads of the Americas
Panama's location—joining two continents and later, via its great canal, two oceans—makes it a natural crossroads. Crossing Panama was obligatory for Spanish colonizers and goods on their way to Peru, and for Peruvian silver on its way to Spain. In the independence period, Simón Bolívar convened a Pan American Congress to meet on the isthmus of Panama, where he envisioned that Spanish American republics might gather periodically as had the ancient Greek city states at the isthmus of Corinth. Panama was, at the time (1826), a province of Colombia, which it would remain until separated from Colombia in 1903 as part of the overall U.S. effort to create a trans-oceanic canal. The effort succeeded, and the Panama Canal became an important symbol of U.S. technological mastery in the twentieth century, also valuable to Panama and the world at large. However, the manner in which the canal was built and run resulted in much resented infringements of Colombian and, afterward, Panamanian sovereignty. By the 1960s, significant conflicts were occurring, and Panamanians were eager to terminate the multigenerational U.S. lease of the canal in the 1970s.
Topics:
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- What impact did the transport of goods and people across the isthmus have on Panama during the colonial period?
- How is Panama's history different from that of the other Central American republics?
- How did U.S.-Panamanian relations evolve over the twentieth century, and how have they changed since the turnover of the canal in the late 1990s?
Country Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places. As is the case with the historiography of other Central American countries, there is a lack of recent, general histories of Panama in English.)
Barry, Tom. Panama: A Country Guide. Albuquerque, NM: The Inter-Hemispheric Education
Resource Center, 1990.
Like other books published by the Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center, this one is a guidebook to current events, not a history. The Resource Center is a research institute that focuses most heavily on Central America and U.S. foreign policy. Its publications, including this one on Panama, follow a standard organization, with chapters on politics, the military, economics, social movements, and foreign relations. A map, charts, notes, and a chronology are included. There is no index.
Biesanz, John, and Mavis Biesanz. The People of Panama. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1955.
Dated, but still useful for the first half of the twentieth century. Maps, illustrations, a bibliography, notes, and an index are included.
** Foster, Lynn V. A Brief History of Central America. New York: Facts On File, 2000.
An accessible historical overview of Central American from the pre-Columbian era to the dawn of the present century. Chapter titles and subtitles clearly guide the reader through the narrative, and selections from primary and secondary sources are interspersed throughout the text to allow readers to focus on certain points. The book includes illustrations, tables and maps, a bibliography and index, a list of suggested readings, and appendices with basic facts for each country (including Panama) and a chronology.
Howarth, David. Panama: Four Hundred Years of Dreams and Cruelty. New York: McGraw-
Hill Book Company, 1966.
A dated but concise and entertaining narrative that approaches the history of Panama chronologically and thematically, with the thread of conquest and foreign intervention (from Europe and the U.S.) orienting many chapters. Maps, notes, sources for each chapter, and an index are included.
** Woodward, Ralph Lee, Jr. Central America: A Nation Divided, 3rd ed. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999.
A solid and well-told overview with an extensive guide to further reading, a set of charts and tables with statistical information, and a political chronology.
Maps:
|
|
|
W. W. Norton | Credits | Site Feedback | Technical Support | Print This Page