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Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is the southernmost country of Central America. A transcontinental country, its isthmus constitutes the southernmost part of a natural land bridge between the continents of North America and South America. It borders Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south.
Panama is located in Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica. Its location on the eastern end of the isthmus forming a landbridge connecting Central and South America is strategic. By 1999, Panama controlled the Panama Canal that links the North Atlantic Ocean via the Caribbean Sea with the North Pacific Ocean. A nearly impenetrable jungle forms the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia. It creates a break in the Pan-American Highway, which otherwise forms a complete road from Alaska to Chile.
Administratively, Panama's major divisions are nine provinces and three indigenous territories (comarcas indígenas). There are also two subprovincial "comarcas," Kuna de Madugandí and Kuna de Wargandí, that form part of the Panamá and Darién provinces, respectively.
Provinces: Bocas del Toro · Chiriquí · Coclé · Colón · Darién · Herrera · Los Santos · Panamá · Veraguas , Provincial-level comarcas : Emberá · Kuna Yala · Ngöbe-Buglé.
Much of Panama's domestic politics and international diplomacy in the twentieth century was tied to the Panama Canal and the foreign policy of the United States. At the turn of the twentieth century, Theodore Roosevelt pursued United States diplomatic efforts to facilitate a deal with Colombia that would allow it to take over French canal operations started by Ferdinand de Lesseps. In November 1903, the United States supported a covert Separatist Junta consisting of a small number of wealthy Panamanian landowners and led by Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero to secede from Colombia.
