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Panama City (Spanish: Ciudad de Panamá), population 708,738, is the capital of Panama, located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. Panama City is the political, administrative and cultural center of the country. Juan Carlos Navarro is the current mayor of the city.

1 Brief history

The city was founded on August 15, 1519, by Pedro Arias de Avila, also known as Pedrarias Davila. A recurring theme in the history of the city has been the ebb and flow world commerce through the isthmus. Within a few years of its founding, the city became a launching point for the exploration and conquest of Peru and a transit point for gold and silver headed back to Spain through the Isthmus. In 1671 Henry Morgan with a band of 1400 men attacked and looted the city, which was subsequently destroyed by fire. The ruins of the old city still remain and are a popular tourist attraction known as Panama la Vieja. It was rebuilt in 1673 in a new location about 5 miles west-southwest of the original city. This location is now known as the Casco Viejo or Old Hull of the city.

Discovery of goldFor the Neil Young album evoking this phrase, see After the Gold Rush. A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of gold. Gold rushes became a feature of 19th-century culture. in California in 18481848 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). Events Sri Lanka The Revolution of 1848 (qv. a series of widespread but failed struggles for more liberal governments, from Brazil to Hungary. January 24 California gold rush: Jame led to an upsurge in travellers crossing the isthmus en route to the west coast of North America. The year before the discovery of gold, the Panama Railroad Company [1] was formed, but the railroad did not begin operation until 1855Events Births January 5 King Camp Gillette, inventor († 1932) January 21 John Moses Browning, inventor († 1926) January 28 William Seward Burroughs, inventor of the calculator († 1898) March 13 Percival Lowell, astronomer († 19. Between 18481848 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). Events Sri Lanka The Revolution of 1848 (qv. a series of widespread but failed struggles for more liberal governments, from Brazil to Hungary. January 24 California gold rush: Jame and 18691869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events March 1 North German Confederation issues 10 gr and 30gr value stamps, printed on goldbeater's skin May 10 Transcontinental Railroad completed at Promontory, Utah. May 15 Wo, the year the first transcontinental railroad was completed in the United States, about 375,000 persons crossed the isthmus from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 225,000 in the opposite direction. That traffic greatly increased the prosperity of the city during that period.

Not surprisingly, construction of the Panama Canal was of great benefit to the infrastructure of the city. Of particular note are the improvements in health and sanitation brought about by the American presence in the Canal Zone. These include the eradication of yellow feverYellow fever (also called black vomit or sometimes The American Plague is an acute viral disease. It is still an important cause of hemorrhagic illness in several African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine. In the past and malariaMalaria ( Italian: bad air ; formerly called ague or marsh fever in English) is an infectious disease which causes about 500 million infections and 2 million deaths annually, mainly in the tropics and sub-Saharan Africa. The protozoan cause of malaria was and the introduction of a first-rate water supply system. However, most of the laborers for the construction of the canal were brought in from the Caribbean, which created unprecedented racial and social tensions in the fledgling city. During World War II, construction of military bases and the presence of larger numbers of U.S. military and civilian personnel brought about unprecedented levels of prosperity to the city. Throughout the years, however, the benefits of American presence in the canal area, had a price. From the perspective of Panamanians, this massive presence was viewed as an affront to their nationalism and also as an irritation to life in and around the city. In fact until the late 1960s, Panamanians had limited access, or no access at all, to many areas in the Canal Zone neighboring the Panama City metropolitan area. Some of these areas were military bases accessible only to United States personnel.

In the late 1970s and through the 1980s Panama City became an international banking center bringing along with it a lot of undesirable attention as an international money-laundering center. In 1989 after nearly a year of tension between the United States and Panama, President Bush ordered an invasion to depose the leader of Panama, General Manuel Noriega. As a result of the action, a portion of the El Chorillo neighborhood, which consisted mostly of old wood-framed buildings dating back to the 1900s, was destroyed by fire. Eventually, the U. S. helped finance the construction of large cinderblock apartment buildings to replace the destroyed structures. Panama City remains a banking center, although with very visible controls in the flow of cash. Shipping is handled through port facilities in the neighboring municipality of Balboa operated by the Hutchison Whampoa Company of Hong Kong and through several ports on the Caribbean side of the isthmus. Balboa, which is located within the greater Panama City metropolitan area was formerly part of the Panama Canal Zone, and in fact the administration of the former Panama Canal Zone was headquartered there.