ABSTRACT
Panama has long been the centre of transportation routes between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Located on a small isthmus of 77,060 square kilometres (29,750 square miles), the Panama Canal in 1914 further enhanced Panama's importance as the main hemispheric link between east and west as well as between southern Central America (Costa Rica) and northern South America (Colombia). Panama also has hundreds of islands scattered along its coast which results in varying versions of its actual land area.
