Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 439,642, with a total metro population of 1,272,599, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, at 8°58′N 79°32′W / 8.967°N 79.533°W. Panama City is the political and administrative center of the country.
With an average GDP per capita of $11,700, Panama has been for eight years in the top five places for retirement in the world according to International Living Magazine. Panama City has a dense skyline of mostly highrise apartment buildings and condos, but also office complexes and hotels. Panama City is a hub for international banking and commerce. It has an advanced communications service, Internet use is widespread; and Panama's Tocumen International Airport, the biggest and busiest airport of Central America offers daily flights to international destinations.
Panama City was chosen to be the American Capital of Culture for the year 2003 (jointly, with Curitiba, Brazil).
Panama city was founded on August 15, 1519, by the Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias de Ávila. The city was the starting point of expeditions that conquered the Inca Empire in Peru (1532). It was a stopover point of one of the most important trade routes in the history of the American continent leading to the fairs of Nombre de Dios and Portobelo, where most of the gold and silver that Spain took from the Americas passed through. The city was destroyed by a devastating fire, when the pirate Henry Morgan sacked it on January 28, 1671. It was rebuilt and formally established on January 21, 1673, in a peninsula located 8 km from the original settlement. The place where the previously devastated city was located is still in ruins, and has become a tourist attraction known as "Panama Viejo"
Panama is located between the Pacific Ocean and tropical rain forest. The Parque Natural Metropolitano (Metropolitan Nature Park), stretching from Panama along the Panama Canal, has unique bird species and other animals such as tapir, puma, alligators, etc. At the Pacific entrance of the canal is the Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas (Marine Exhibitions Center), a research center for those interested in tropical marine life and ecology. Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas is managed by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Tropical forests around Panama are vital for the functioning of the Panama Canal. These forests provide the canal with the water required for its operation (a rare example of a vast engineering project in the middle of the forest which actually helped preserve that forest). Due to the importance of the Canal to the Panamanian economy, tropical forests around the canal have been kept in an almost pristine state. Along the western side of the Canal is the Parque Nacional Soberania (Sovereignty National Park) which includes Summit botanical gardens and a zoo. In this national park, the best known trail is the Pipeline Road, popular among birdwatchers
Panama has eighty banks, fifteen of them being national. The city is a stopover for other destinations in the country as well as a tourist destination in its own right. The city is responsible for the production of about 55% of the country's GDP. This is because most Panama businesses and premises are located in the city and its metro area.[6] Tourism is the most important economic activity in terms of revenue generation. The hotel occupancy rate is the 2nd highest (84.7 percent) in the world after Perth, Australia and followed by Dubai (84.5 percent).
Internet use is widespread due to Panama's high income.
Source:wikipedia
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