Evening star., 1943-01-31

! With the series. Our South
American Neighbors." recently
published in The Sunday Star,
these articles UiU constitute CON-
| piete cOUerage of the Latin
American republics. As part
! OF its many educa tional activities.
| the National Geographic Society
has prepared the basic data and
accompanying maps from its
rich resources OF geographic
knowledge and surveys. By clip
ping this series from 7Ceek to
aCeek. adults and school pupils
may acquire an up to-date COL
lection OF maps and notes on
our neighbors to the south.
tCopyrght, National Geographic Society J
For more than 400 years the
1sthmus OF Panama has made his
tory and influenced nations
To-Day, the Republic of Panama
little larger than Maine and with
population estimated at slightly
less than that of Pittsburgh-holds
an outstanding position as the land
lord and nextdoor neighbor of one
of the worlds wartime life lines
the Panama Canal. In itself. PAN
anna is a land of potential wealth,
favored by nature with fertility and
resources, including many minerals
and useful forest and jungle prod
ucts. 1t has been at war with
Japan since December 8, 1941, with
Germany and Italy since December
IL.
Stepping Stone to Fortune.
Because Panama offered the
shortest cut across the land barrier
of the Western World, this region
early became a prize for govern
ments and way station for indi-
viduals on their way to more distant
destinies. Spanish Vasco Nunez de
Balboa was the first to struggle
across the Isthmus, discovering the
Pacific in 1913. England's Sir Fran
els Drake and Henry Morgan, the
pirate, came this way, as did thous-
andS OF unknown treasure hunters
when the gold rush in California
was on.
France made her bid for an in
terest in the valuable Panamanian
area through the engineering genius
of Ferdinand de Lesseps. After sue
cessfully building the Suez Canal,
De Lesseps, however. in trying a
similar feat in the fever-ridden
swamps of Panama during the l88Os,
went down to spectacular failure.
Finally, following Panama's 1903
declaration of independence from
Colombia, the United States signed
the treaty with the young republic
which resulted in the blasting of the
Panama Canal across its narrow
central reaches. This cash, which
has been called mans greatest
liberty with Nature" brought the
continents, east and west, north and
south, closer together by slashing
thousands of miles and weeks of
sailing from former travel routes.
Geography Plays Tricks.
The Republic of Panama stretches
east and west of the 10-mile-wide
Canal Zone strip, leased in per-
petuity to the United States. In
this slim neck of land between Gen.
trail and South America, geography
plays strange tricks. The curving
shape and horizontal position Of the
isthmus makes the sun seem to rise
from the Pacific and sink in the
Atlantic, while travellers crossing
the canal from the Atlantic side find
themselves farther east at the end
Of the trip than at the beginning.
Panama has Q Pacific coast line of
more than 760 miles, 8 Caribbean
front Of some 470 miles. Yet its
total area is only little over "a, 900
square miles, its population about
650,000. The Panamanian people
are of many races, the heritage Of
their long international history.
The 1880 census estimated that
roughly so per cent of the then
nearly half a million people were
Of mixed blood, with some $4,000
whites, $500 Negroes, $4,000 In
dians and 1000 Orientals. Spanish
is the national language, although
there are native Indian tribes with
their own dialects.
Panama is a tropical country of
wet and dry seasons and heat tenn
pered by mountain attitudes. Near
the western frontier with Costa Rica
the inactive volcano, Chiriqui, is
more than II, 900 feet high.
Once dreaded for its malaria, yel-
low fever and other tropical dis
eases. modern Panama rates a good
bill of health as a result of SANTA
ton measures growing out OF the
necessary safeguards set up by
United States health authorities In
building and maintaining the Canal.
Source of War Materials.
In the field of much-needed war
materials now cut of from the
United Nations through japanese
conquests, Panama is a now small
but potentially more important
source of abaca (Manila fiber).
Made into rope, this fiber is vital
for use in lifeboats, for mooring bal
looms and other military purposes.
Additional rubber trees, too, have
been planted in the republic to help
swell the Latin American contribu-
tions of this essential product.
Although natural conditions favor
farming in Panama, so far only
about 5 per cent of available soil is
under cultivation and many provi-
sions are imported. To improve the
situation, the government in recent
years has been encouraging in
creased local production of such
items as corn, rice, sugar, potatoes
and other vegetables and fruits. The
chief commercial crop is bananas.
of which nearly $4,000 stems were
exported TO the United States in
1889. Cacao, coconuts and hides
from an active cattle industry are
other important exports. Panamas
export trade, however, is extremely