History of Panama

This article covers the history of Panama .

Pre-Columbian ceramic figure from Talamancan, Panama

Pre-Columbian period

The history of Panama is characterized by a rich pre-Columbian influenced heritage that spans more than 12,000 years. The oldest traces of these indigenous peoples are arrowheads, among other things. The first villages in America to practice pottery were in central Panama, for example the Monagrillo culture from 2500 to 1700 BC. From these, significant settlements developed, the fame of which results from the graves of the Conte archaeological site (500–900 AD) and the polychrome pottery of the Coclé style.

The Conquista and the early colonial period

In 1501 Rodrigo de Bastidas from Seville , who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to America, set out from the Atlantic coast of today's Colombia to map the coastline of the Caribbean Sea. He reached La Punta de Manzanillo on Panama's upper Caribbean coast before he had to return to Santo Domingoto due to the poor condition of the ship. He is considered to be the first European to claim this part of the isthmus , the area of today's Guna Yala . Before the arrival of the Europeans, Panama was largely populated by the Chibcha and Chocoa peoples, the largest group of which were the Cueva. A year after de Bastida's arrival in Panama, Christopher Columbus sailed from what is now Honduras and Costa Rica in a southerly direction to the isthmus. During this time, Columbus made maps of the Panamanian coastline and, in contrast to de Bastida, explored the western part of Panama. He landed at a place called Almirante and advanced into an area he called Veragua (German: to see water). He continued his coastal voyage as far as the Río Chagres , landed in Portobelo, a natural bay that was to become a major Caribbean port for the Spanish fleet in 1597, and finally ended his explorations in Del Retrete after spending only two months in what is now Panama.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa , a companion of de Bastida, followed reports from the indigenous population in 1513 that there was another ocean to the west. With a force of 190, Balboa managed the difficult crossing of the isthmus between the Atlantic and the Pacific . He named the ocean, which he saw as the first European on September 25, 1513, Mar del Sur (South Sea). Later, however, the name Pacific caught on, which goes back to the first circumnavigation of the world under Ferdinand Magellan .

Camino Real in a dry area of the bank of the Alajuela reservoir

Panama City became the center of colonial Panama . Founded in 1519 by Pedro Arias Dávila , it soon became the seat of the Audiencia and the bishopric. The city at the geographically most suitable position for the interoceanic trade - although in an unfavorable topographical situation - became an important transshipment point on the route between Peru and Spain. Gold and silver were brought to Panama by sea and then transported by land to the Caribbean coast and then shipped on to Spain . A system developed with two routes: the Camino Real (German: royal path) on which gold and silver were transported on the back of mules during the dry season from December to April, and the Camino de Cruces (German: path of the crosses ) which led from Panama City by land to Venta de Cruces, where the goods were reloaded into boats and brought to the estuary over the Chagres River. The Camino de Cruces was mainly used for general goods traffic during the rainy season. The origin of the name Camino de Cruces is derived from the cruciform shape of the pavement.

In 1671, Panamá la Vieja was destroyed by the English pirate Henry Morgan . He came over the isthmus and attacked the city from the land side, which was then rebuilt ten kilometers away in a more suitable place.

A recurring theme in the history of Panama is therefore the relationship between the isthmus and the revival of a world economy. Balboa's "discovery" meant for Panama that it became a hub for looted Peruvian treasures, European goods, services, people, work and slavery ; everything that was traded in the Spanish colonies . The success of Spanish rule was in sharp contrast to the oppression of the indigenous peoples. A few years after the Conquista, the native peoples were largely exterminated. For example, by the late 17th century, the Cueva culture had completely disappeared. The lack of labor was mainly replaced by African slaves, who were deported to Panama in large numbers from the 16th century. Harsh working conditions and poor treatment were the catalyst for frequent slave riots. Slaves escaped into the hinterland, so-called Cimarrones , founded their own settlements and from there waged a kind of guerrilla war against the Spaniards, often in alliance with members of indigenous peoples, such as under the African-born leader Bayano in the 1550s. Sometimes there were even alliances with pirates, as in 1573 when Cimarrones supported the English privateer Francis Drake in attacks on Spanish silver transports near Nombre de Dios . A Scottish attempt to found the colony of New Caledonia on the Gulf of Darién at the end of the 17th century and to transport goods from there across the isthmus, the so-called Darién project , failed despite high investments. The banker William Paterson (1658–1719) raised £ 400,000 for the project, but in the end half of Scotland's national wealth flowed into the unsuccessful company.

Panama was under Spanish rule ( viceroyalty of New Granada ) from 1538 to 1821 , and its fate was closely linked to the geopolitical importance of the isthmus for the Spanish crown. Panama's importance declined significantly towards the end of the 17th century and almost completely disappeared in the mid-18th century when Spain's power and influence in Europe waned and Spanish ships mostly sailed around Cape Horn to reach the Pacific. The route via Panama was short, but also labor-intensive and expensive, mainly because of the multiple cargo handling and the complex land transport. In addition, the route via Panama was threatened by (mostly Dutch and English ) pirates and Cimarrones.

Panama since the 19th century

The general striving for independence in the colonies on the American continent initially did not affect Panama. Only around 1820 - after the arrival of the first printing press - did the discussions about possible independence from the Spanish crown intensify. The highlight of these discussions was the Primer Grito de Independencia en la Villa de Los Santos , with which the city of La Villa de Los Santos declared its independence. The conservative elites in Veraguas and Panama City opposed this declaration. Among those who opposed independence was the commander of the armed forces, José de Fábrega , whom the advocates of independence were able to pull on their side. Fábrega called a meeting of representatives of all Panamanian cities, where Panama declared itself independent of Spain on November 28, 1821 and at the same time joined the viceroyalty of New Granada. Thus Panama - in contrast to its neighboring countries - achieved its separation from Spain without bloodshed. In September 1830 Panama separated from the rest of Greater Colombia under the leadership of General José Domingo Espinar , the local military commander who rebelled against the central government for a transfer. As a condition for re-entry, Simón Bolívar's direct rule was required. Bolívar rejected Espinar's demands and in turn demanded that the province submit to the central government again. General Juan Eligio Alzuru launched a coup against Espinar's authority in the context of the general political tensions of the last few days in Greater Colombia . In early 1831 Panama returned to what had once been Greater Colombia and became part of a new union called the Republic of New Granada.

In July 1831, when the new states Venezuela and Ecuador were constituted, the isthmus again declared its independence, this time under the leadership of General Alzuru as military supreme commander. The abuse of power by the short-lived administration of Alzuru provoked military countermeasures under Colonel Tomás Herrera . After Alzuru's defeat and execution in August, the old connections with New Granada were restored. In November 1840, during a civil war resulting from a religious conflict , several local authorities declared their independence, followed by General Herrera for the isthmus. Panama was given the name Estado Libre del Istmo , in German: Free State of the Isthmus. This new state established some foreign political and economic ties and in March 1841 a constitution was passed that opened up the possibility of reconnection with New Granada within a federal system. After the end of the civil war, negotiations were held with the New Granada government on reunification on December 31, 1841. The isthmus was independent for a total of 13 months.

As is so often the case in the New World , after independence the political and administrative structures were controlled by the descendants of the colonial aristocracy. In the case of Panama, this elite was made up of ten extended families. Although Panama has made considerable strides in the permeability of social classes and the integration of minorities, the economic and social life of Panama is still controlled by a small number of families. The pejorative term of unknown origin rabiblanco , which means white tail , has been used for generations to refer to members of these white families.

In 1852 the isthmus adopted the trial by jury principle for court hearings, i.e. a jury decides on guilt and innocence, and 30 years after the international abolition of slavery, Panama also declared it ended and has been fighting it ever since. In 1855, the New World's first transcontinental railroad was opened, the Panama Railway , which runs from Colón to Panama City in order to be able to quickly transport soldiers of fortune who were on their way to the gold fields in California to the Pacific. The existence of this railway line made it possible to seriously consider a Panama Canal.

Recent Panamanian History / Canal Construction

More recent Panamanian history was mainly shaped by trade across the isthmus and the possibility of building a canal to replace the difficult overland route. In the 1520s and 1530s, the Spanish Crown ordered expert opinions on the feasibility of building a canal over the isthmus, but this idea was soon abandoned. Between 1880 and 1889, the French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique, under the direction of Ferdinand de Lesseps , who had successfully built the Suez Canal , tried a trans-Panamanian canal at sea level. On the one hand, the company was faced with insurmountable health problems, such as B. Yellow fever and malaria epidemics . On the other hand, there were engineering challenges such as B. Regular landslides and very soft soil. Eventually, the company failed in a spectacular financial collapse, which not only plunged many French financiers into bankruptcy, but also resulted in prison sentences for them. In 1894 a new company was formed to make up for some of the losses made by the original sewer construction company.

Panama conflict

US President Theodore Roosevelt convinced Congress to take over the unfinished and abandoned work in 1902. The USA then demanded the surrender of the isthmus of Colombia . However, Colombia refused to surrender and President Roosevelt sent the US warship USS Nashville there in 1903 . The American soldiers went ashore, occupied the isthmus , killed the local militia commander and proclaimed the independent state of Panama . The US then installed a government for Panama and had an agreement, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty , signed. The signatories were the then US Secretary of State , John Hay , and a former employee of Ferdinand de Lesseps , the French engineer Philippe Bunau-Varilla . This treaty secured the US sovereignty over a strip 16 km wide and 80 km long, the later Panama Canal , and the right to military interventions in Panama. The canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914; the now existing 83 kilometer long canal is considered one of the greatest engineering successes. On January 5, 1909, the Colombian government under Rafael Reyes signed a contract that should seal the loss of the former province. This treaty was not ratified because of strong opposition, both on a political and social level. Further negotiations gradually changed the agreement and it was finally signed on December 21, 1921, and Panama's independence was formally recognized.

Military coups

Between 1903 and 1968 Panama was seen as a constitutional democracy ruled by a commercially oriented oligarchy .

The constitution of 1904 provided universal male suffrage for all Panamanians over the age of 21. An election law number 98 of July 5, 1941 gave women over the age of 21 the active and passive right to vote at the provincial level if they had a university degree, a teaching degree, completed vocational training or attended secondary school. The general active and passive right to vote for women was only introduced on March 1, 1946.

From the beginning of the 1950s, the Panamanian military began to fight the political hegemony of the oligarchs. In October 1968, President Arnulfo Arias Madrid , who had been elected twice and had been deposed militarily, was deposed again after only ten days in office, this time by the National Guard . A military junta was established and the commander of the National Guard, Brigadier General Omar Torrijos , emerged as the most important power in Panama's political life. Torrijos' regime was considered brutal and corrupt, but he was a charismatic leader whose domestic and foreign policy programs were very popular with the largely ignored segments of the population, both rural and urban, by the oligarchy.

After the junta was dissolved, on October 11, 1972, Parliament elected Demetrios Lakas as President, Arturo Sucre Perreira as Vice-President and General Omar Torrijos as "Great Leader of the Revolution of Panama".

At the meeting of the UN Security Council in Panama from March 15 to 21, 1973, the resolution submitted by Panama to transfer the sovereign rights of the Canal Zone to Panama was blocked by the USA by a veto. The US argued that a new treaty was being negotiated and that the UN Security Council could not force a resolution, as US interests also had to be taken into account.

General Torrijos died in an airplane attack on August 1, 1981. The exact circumstances of his death have never been clarified. According to John Perkins , the crash was a murder by US intelligence .

The death of Torrijos changed the tone in Panamanian politics, but not the general direction. Despite the constitutional amendment in 1983 that forbade the military from playing a political role, the dominance of the Panama Defense Forces (PDF) remained behind a civilian facade. During this time, General Manuel Noriega took control of the armed forces and the civil government and set up the so-called Batallones de la Dignidad (Eng .: Battalions of Dignity) - paramilitary units that were supposed to suppress the opposition.

On September 7, 1977 an agreement on the transfer of the canal, the canal zone and 14 US Army bases within the canal zone was signed by the USA to Panama for the year 1999, on condition that the USA had the permanent right to one have military intervention. Some areas of the canal zone and increasing responsibility for the canal have been transferred to Panama in the intervening years. Despite the secret alliance between Ronald Reagan and Manuel Noriega during the Contra War in Nicaragua , the relationship between the USA and Panama deteriorated noticeably towards the end of the 1980s. The US planned to expand its military presence in Panama and put pressure on Noriega, who opposed, to which the US reacted.

In the summer of 1987 the United States froze both military and economic aid to Noriega. Noriega was charged with drug trafficking , money laundering and criminal activity in the US in February 1988 . This increased tensions further. In April 1988, President Reagan made Panama subject to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act , freezing Panama regime accounts at US banks, withholding canal fees, banning US corporations and individuals from making payments to the Noriega regime and sending additional military troops to Panama. Noriega has been described in the American media as a threat to US national security and the newly elected US President George Bush said 'we want to remove him (Noriega from Panama)'.

In the elections in Panama in May 1989, the United States supported opposition candidate Guillermo Endara with more than ten million dollars. The military dictator Noriega had the elections invalidated when it became clear that the coalition supporting him would lose. Outbreaks of violence followed in the streets of Panama. a. Opposition candidates were beaten up in the street by regime thugs. Both sides accused each other of voting fraud. Kurt Muse, an American, was picked up by the Panamanian authorities after he had set up a special transmitter construction with which he wanted to interfere with the Panamanian radio and election results broadcast by telephone. The following day, the US sent several thousand US soldiers to Panama to 'protect American lives'.

Guillermo Endara was declared the winner of the presidential election by the USA. A meeting of the OAS foreign ministers took place at the instigation of the USA, but this was ended without result.

US military invasion

See also: US invasion of Panama

US Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989

The United States began to pull together large troops on the military bases in the Canal Zone. Panamanian authorities alleged that US forces left their bases and illegally stopped and searched vehicles in Panama. During one such search, a gun battle broke out between US Marines and Panamanian soldiers, in which one US Marine was killed. On December 20, 1989, the United States launched the invasion . The troops involved in Operation Just Cause achieved their primary objectives in a short time, and the first troop withdrawals took place on December 27th. The United States was bound by a decade-old treaty to hand over control of the Canal Zone on January 1st. On the day of the invasion, Endara was sworn in as president at a US military base.

US military presence

US troops were stationed in Panama for the first time in 1911 . Their mission was to protect and accompany the construction work on the Panama Canal , which opened in 1914. At the time of World War II , up to 65,000 soldiers were stationed on the 14 Panamanian bases in Panama. After the establishment of the American regional command in 1947, the southern command was stationed in Panama. In addition to the Panama Mission, it also directed American invasions in Grenada and Haiti .

The entire Panama Canal, the area around the Canal and the remaining US military bases were transferred to Panama on December 31, 1999. After fighter planes took off and landed at Howard Air Force Base in Panama in June 1997, the US had a presence of 1,000 men half a year before the withdrawal. Despite all the ties to the USA, then President Ernesto Pérez Balladares was relieved about the withdrawal of the US troops:

"The US presence in Panama, particularly in the last 20 to 25 years, has had very little to do with the canal [...] and more to do with the security interests in the region."

- Ernesto Pérez Balladares

in German " The presence of the USA, especially in the last 20 to 25 years, had less and less to do with protecting the canal, but more and more with its own interests in the region."

Panama under the Noriega regime

On the morning of December 20, 1989, a few hours after the invasion began, the presumed winner of the May 1989 presidential election, Guillermo Endara, was sworn in as President of Panama at a US military base in the Canal Zone. Meanwhile, the Panamanian electoral tribunal invalidated the Noriega regime's cancellation of the election and confirmed the victory of the opposition candidates led by President Endara and Vice-Presidents Guillermo Ford and Ricardo Arias Calderón .

President Endara took office as the head of a four-party minority government and promised to accelerate the economic upswing in Panama, to convert the military into a civilian police force and to strengthen democratic institutions. During his five-year term in office, the Endara government failed because of the high expectations of the people. His new police force was a tremendous improvement over his predecessor, but was completely incapable of fighting crime effectively. In 1992, according to a poll, Endara would have received 2.4% of the vote in the event of an election. On September 1, 1994, Ernesto Pérez Balladares was sworn in as president after an internationally observed election.

Pérez Balladares was a candidate for a three-party coalition led by the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), the former political arm of the military dictatorships during the Torrijos and Noriega regimes. A long-time member of the PRD, he worked deftly during the election campaign to rehabilitate the party's public image by highlighting the party's origins in the populist Torrijos rather than its association with Noriega. He won the election with 33% of the vote because the largest non-PRD forces could not agree on a common candidate and thus competed with one another. Economic reforms were initiated under his leadership and he has often worked closely with the US on canal issues.

On May 2, 1999, Mireya Moscoso , the widow of the former President Arnulfo Arias , defeated the PRD candidate Martín Torrijos, the son of the former dictator. The elections were described as free and fair. Moscoso took office on September 1, 1999.

During her tenure, Moscoso strengthened social programs, particularly child and youth welfare and general welfare. Education programs were also given priority. Recently, Moscoso has focused on bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements within the Panamanian territorial environment. The transfer of the canal was also successfully tackled under Moscoso's leadership.

Panama's anti-drug policy is very successful compared to earlier times. The Panamanian government has expanded the money laundering legislation and concluded several drug control agreements with the USA (e.g. the Counternarcotics Maritime Agreement and a so-called Stolen Vehicle Agreement ). The Moscoso government was also successful in the area of economic investment and strengthened the protection of intellectual property and has also agreed to a number of agreements with the USA in this area. In addition, the Moscoso administration was "strictly in line" with the US in the fight against terrorism .

In 2004 Martín Torrijos ran again in the presidential elections and won this time after popular support for the Moscoso government had fallen to just 15% after a few corruption scandals. He ruled until 2009. After the 2009 elections, entrepreneur Ricardo Martinelli, who was elected with a little more than 60% of the vote, took over government affairs. In 2015 he was charged with illegal wiretapping against members of the opposition. Martinelli was succeeded by Juan Carlos Varela as President. He had previously been Vice President and Foreign Minister of Panama under Martinelli, but had already been urged by Martinelli to resign from the office of Foreign Minister in 2011. In 2016, the country hit the headlines for the publication of the Panama Papers and earned a reputation for promoting international money laundering and tax avoidance . Varela was not allowed to run again in the 2019 elections. Laurentino Cortizo prevailed with 33% of the vote, who stated that he wanted to try primarily to curb corruption .

literature

Thomas Fischer: Panama's “independence”. A historiographical overview. In: Zoller, Rüdiger (ed.): Panama: 100 years of independence. Scope for action and transformation processes of a canal republic. (Colloquium: Erlangen (December 5, 2003)). Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen 2004, (MESA REDONDA. New series; 20), pp. 23–50, ISSN 0946-5030 .
Gustavo A. Mellander, Nelly Maldonado Mellander, Charles Edward Magoon: The Panama Years. Editorial Plaza Mayor, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico 1999, ISBN 1-56328-155-4 .
Gustavo A. Mellander: The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Interstate Publishers, Danville, Ill. 1971, OCLC 138568.
Holger Meding: Panama. State and Nation in Transition, 1903–1941. Böhlau, Cologne (et al.) 2002, ISBN 3-412-02702-2 .

Web links

Commons : History of Panama - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Charles C. Mann : 1493. Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. Vintage Books, New York City, 2012, pp. 449–451
^ Charles C. Mann : 1493. Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. Vintage Books, New York City, 2012, pp. 453–455
^ Thomas M. Leonard: Historical dictionary of Panama . Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham 2015, ISBN 978-0-8108-7834-1 , pp. 6-7 .
^ Petra Bendel, Michael Krennerich: Panama. In: Dieter Nohlen (Ed.): Handbook of the election data of Latin America and the Caribbean (= political organization and representation in America. Volume 1). Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1993, ISBN 3-8100-1028-6 , pp. 605-630, p. 609.
↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. Retrieved October 5, 2018 .
^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 298.
↑ 25 years ago - U.S. invasion of Panama , December 19, 2014
↑ Panama has voted: Torrijos is followed by Martinelli. July 20, 2009, accessed May 6, 2019 .
↑ Ex-President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, is extradited | NZZ . June 8, 2018, ISSN 0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed on May 6, 2019]).
^ Government crisis in Panama. September 1, 2011, accessed May 6, 2019 .
↑ Panama Papers - All articles on the major SZ research. Retrieved on May 6, 2019 (German).
^ ZEIT ONLINE: Panama: Social Democrat Laurentino Cortizo elected president . In: The time . May 6, 2019, ISSN 0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed on May 6, 2019]).

[1] Charles C. Mann : 1493. Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. Vintage Books, New York City, 2012, pp. 449–451

[2] Charles C. Mann : 1493. Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. Vintage Books, New York City, 2012, pp. 453–455

[Leonard6–7-3] Thomas M. Leonard: Historical dictionary of Panama . Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham 2015, ISBN 978-0-8108-7834-1 , pp. 6-7 .

[4] Petra Bendel, Michael Krennerich: Panama. In: Dieter Nohlen (Ed.): Handbook of the election data of Latin America and the Caribbean (= political organization and representation in America. Volume 1). Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1993, ISBN 3-8100-1028-6 , pp. 605-630, p. 609.

[ipu-013486-5] - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. Retrieved October 5, 2018 .

[6] Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 298.

[7] 25 years ago - U.S. invasion of Panama , December 19, 2014

[8] Panama has voted: Torrijos is followed by Martinelli. July 20, 2009, accessed May 6, 2019 .

[9] Ex-President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, is extradited | NZZ . June 8, 2018, ISSN 0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed on May 6, 2019]).

[10] Government crisis in Panama. September 1, 2011, accessed May 6, 2019 .

[11] Panama Papers - All articles on the major SZ research. Retrieved on May 6, 2019 (German).

[12] ZEIT ONLINE: Panama: Social Democrat Laurentino Cortizo elected president . In: The time . May 6, 2019, ISSN 0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed on May 6, 2019]).