More so than any other nation in Central America, Panama is a product of its strategic location. Its history, culture, economy, and political relations with regional neighbors and the United States are largely derived from this circumstance. Whereas the northern Caribbean shoreline is relatively straight, the Pacific margin is interrupted by a number of peninsulas, and a number of island groups lie offshore. The western half of Panama is dominated by a single mountain range known as the Serran a de Tabasar . Located well within the tropics, Panama is dominated by easterly trade winds.
Tropical climates prevail except at higher elevations to the west of the Canal Zone.
Winters tend to be drier than summers. There may be three to five months without rain. In these areas periods of drought are less common and rarely last more than one or two months. Heavier rainfall along the Caribbean shoreline provides for a tropical rain forest. Lighter rainfall along the Pacific gives rise to grasslands and a more scrubby and seasonally leafless forest cover.