Geography of Panamá

Surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, the Colombia (225 km of border) and the Costa Rica (330 km), the Panamá is a country of Central America, located at western 9° northern and 80° and extending on 78.200 km ².

The Canal of Panamá makes it possible the boats to pass from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and conversely, without having to sail round the American continent by the south of the Argentine.

Formation

The territory of Panama was born there is 15 million years of a phenomenon of subduction which created a group of islands. They represent today the peninsulas of Azuero and Burica. The specificity of this territory if it is compared with its neighbors is that it is resulting from the collision of the plates of the Caribbean, of Nazca and that of South America whereas the countries of the isthmus were created by the contact of that of the Caribbean and that of Cocos.

Political map

The country is divided into 9 provinces to which comes to be added the Comarca de San Blas, which is regarded as part of the province of Colonist in the majority of the official documents. The provinces did not change since the declaration of independence in 1903. Their subdivisions are the districts which are in their turn divided into corregimientos (which is them modified according to the shifts in population).

The borders with the Costa Rica and the Colombia are clearly dissociated and are not any more the object of arguments since the end of the Années 1980. The country profits in addition from a nautical ZEE of 200 miles.

Coasts

The northern coast is sown natural ports. The port of Cristóbal, located at the exit of the channel in the Caribbean Sea, is the only one to profit from important infrastructures. However, the many islands of the archipelago of Mow Bocas del Toro, provide a shelter sufficient for the banana port of Almirante. Side of the Colombian border, the east coast decorated with approximately 350 islands which extend on approximately 160km.

The principal port of the Pacifique coast is Balboa but the depths sufficient not being added to a strong tide do not allow really the development of important ports. Approximately 1000 islands are in the southern part of the country of which that of Taboga, devoted to tourism which is visible since Panama city.

Relief

The relief is marked by an assembly line which forms a division of the territory by the medium. The northern part does not form part of the chain of North America and only the part nearest of the Colombian border belongs to the Andean unit. The major part of the relief is due to the volcanic activity and is regarded as the central cordillera by the geographers.

The Volcan of Chiriqui culminates to 3.475 m and although it is not active any more since millenia, it keeps the name of volcano. The part which surrounds it is richest of the country on the level ground.

Cours d' water

A little less 500 cours d' water sprinkle the escarpé territory. The majority are torrents going down from the highlands, and are completely innavigable. Only the Río Chepo and the Río Chagres are exploited like source of electricity.

Río Chagres is one longest of the 150 rivers which feed the Caribbean Sea. One finds on his course the Lac Gatún and the Lac Madden which provide electricity to all the surrounding zone.

Río Chepo is thrown as for him in the Pacific and, with the image of the 300 rivers which are thrown on this side, is much less tumultuous. The reason is the weakest variation of the ground and this part includes/understands also the only navigable river: the Río Tuira.

Climate

The whole of the territory is in the tropical zone and knows uniform and high temperatures. There are very few seasonal variations. During the dry season, the temperatures are between 24°C and 32°C.

In addition, it is interesting to note that the temperatures are higher on the Caraïbe coast than on the Pacifique part. In the mountains, the temperatures can go down in lower part from 0°C.

The climatic areas are rather divided on the basis of precipitation that on the temperatures. Precipitations, primarily made up of rain, vary from 1,3 to 3 meters according to the years and take place during the rain season which stretches April at December in spite of some differences over the length. The rainy cycle is determined by three principal factors:

the moisture of the Caribbean is determined by the winds of north and the North-East. Those prévauent on a major part of the year.
the continental division which forms a shield with precipitations and deprives the lowlands of the peaceful coast.
the winds of peaceful south-west sprinkle the southern part of the country, but are blocked by the peninsula of Azuero. That causes to deprive the central part of the country.

Precipitations on the southern part are approximately equal to half of those on the Caribbean coast. In spite of stormy episodes particularly violent one the country is out of the cyclonic corridors.

Flora

The tropical territory of Panama accommodates a great number of plants and 40% of the territory are covered with forests in spite of a reduction of 50% since the years 1940. The major part of agriculture is of subsistence of which the major part is the corn, the bean and various tubers. The arable lands are mainly in north is and the western south of the country. The culture of export is the banana whose production recovers the major part of the two coasts.

Summary

Geographic coordinates :

Map refer: Exchange America and the Caribbean

Territory:
total: 78,200 km ²
ground: 75,990 km ²
water: 2,210 km ²

Borders:
total: 555 km
country: Colombia 225 km, Costa Rica 330 km

Coasts: 2,490 km

maritime Sovereignty:
continuous zone: 24 miles nautical S (44 km)
exclusive economic zone: 200 miles nautical (370 km)
territorial sea: 12 miles nautical (22 km)

Climate: tropical Climate maritime; heat, wet, cloudy; long rain season (from May to January), season dries short

Ground: interior of the grounds escarpé and mountainous; plane coastal regions or slightly undulating

extreme Points:
not low: Pacific Ocean 0 m
not culminan: Volcano of Chiriqui 3,475 m

Natural resource: Hydroelectricity

Land uses (1993):
arable land: 7%
permanent crops: 2%
permanent grazing grounds: 20%
forests: 44%
others: 27%

ground irrigated (1993): 320 km ²

ecological Dangers: NA

Environment - current problems:

Pollution water by the agriculture which destroys the fauna of the rivers
Deforestation of the tropical forest
Dégradation of the ground due to the explotation of the channel

Environment - international agreements:
signed: Biodiversity, Program of the United Nations on the climate change, Protocol of Kyoto, Turning into a desert, Species in voice of disappearance, Dangerous waste, Law for the sea, Marine Dumping?? , Prohibition of the nuclear tests, Protection of the layer of ozone, maritime Pollution, Wood of tropics 83?? , Wood of tropics 94?? , Wet Grounds?? , Fishing of the whale??
signed but not ratified: Conservation of the maritime life

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