n.
officially Republic of Panama
Country, Central America .
It is bounded by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Colombia to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the south, and Costa Rica to the west. Area: 28,950 sq mi (74,979 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 2,915,000. Capital: Panama City . The people are mostly mestizos (mixed European and Indian) and Indian groups, including the Guaymí, Kuna, and Chocó. Other mixed groups were created from Africans (originally brought as slaves) and North American, French, and Chinese migrant labourers. Languages: Spanish (official), English, and indigenous Indian languages. Religion: Roman Catholicism (majority). Currency: balboa. Panama consists of three distinct areas: the lowlands, or hot lands (nearly nine-tenths of the country); the temperate lands; and the highlands, or cold lands. It has a market economy based on services, mostly transportation, communications, and storage connected with the Panama Canal as well as international banking and tourism. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president, assisted by vice presidents. The land was inhabited by Indians when the Spanish arrived in 1501. The first successful Spanish settlement was founded by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1510. Panama was part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada until it declared its independence from Spain in 1821 to join Colombia. In 1903 it revolted against Colombia and was recognized by the U.S., to whom it ceded the Canal Zone . The completed canal was opened in 1914; control of the canal passed to a joint U.S.-Panamanian commission in 1979. An invasion by U.S. troops in 1989 overthrew the de facto ruler, Gen. Manuel Noriega . In 1999 the country elected its first female president, Mireya Moscoso, and later that year the canal came under the full control of Panama.