What country did Panama belong to before its independence?
Panama was inhabited by several indigenous tribes prior to settlement by the Spanish in the 16th century. It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined, eventually becoming the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the total transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the 20th century, which culminated on 31 December 1999
More Info:
en.wikipedia.org
What are your thoughts on this subject?
3 Comments
illonabird
Thank you David McCollugh. Would not have known this, if I hadn’t read Path Between The Seas. Having learned to read at an early age, has been a big help on QC (not to mention most other areas of my life).
David Roy
Lane Mark S, ColOmbia.
William Laughlin
MohamedLarbi Bouabdallah,
No. Panama was part of Colombia. When Panama wanted to secede from Colombia, the US assisted because the US wanted to build the canal to shorten shipping routes. We did and afterwards had sovereignty over the canal only for a limited time, after which the canal would revert to Panama. We never had ownership of the country.