| 48. |
Panama’s time zone is GMT -5, which is the same as EST. |
| 47. |
There is no daylight savings time in Panama. |
| 46. |
The dialing code for Panama is +507. |
| 45. |
Panama boasts an impressive 2,490 km of coastline. |
| 44. |
Panama has 10 provinces (Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Coclé, Colón, Darién, Herrera, Los Santos, Panamá, Panamá Oeste, and Veraguas) and 3 reservations or comarcas (Guna Yala, Ngöbe-Buglé, and Emberá-Wounaan). |
| 43. |
Panama’s biggest city and capital is Panama City. |
| 42. |
Colon and David are the second-largest towns. |
| 41. |
Panama has not had a national military since it was abolished in 1990. |
| 40. |
Famous Panamanians include boxer Roberto Duran, salsa singer and actor Ruben Blades and baseball players Mariano Rivera and Carlos Lee. |
| 39. |
The Panama hat is actually from Ecuador. They are called Panama hats because they were sent to Panama before being shipped worldwide. |
| 38. |
Christopher Columbus first arrived in 1502. |
| 37. |
Vasco Núñez de Balboa arrived in 1513 and was the first European to discover the Pacific coast of Panama. |
| 36. |
The national dish of Panama is sancocho, a stew made with mixed vegetables and chicken. |
| 35. |
Panama is the most southerly country in Central America. |
| 34. |
Panama has over 10,000 different species of plants. |
| 33. |
Panama City is the only capital city that has a rainforest within the city limits. |
| 32. |
Panama is located south of Hurricane Alley and is not impacted by the storms and hurricanes which batter the Caribbean. |
| 31. |
The Biomuseo is the only building in Latin America to be designed by Frank Gehry. |
| 30. |
In 1671 the pirate Henry Morgan and 1,400 men sacked Panama City. |
| 29. |
Panama has four Olympic medals: one Gold, one Silver, and two Bronze. The gold one is from Irving Saladino, who won the men’s long jump at Beijing 2008. The Silver medal is from boxer Atheyna Bylon, the first Panamanian woman to win an Olympic medal at Paris 2024. |
| 28. |
The Volcan Baru is the tallest mountain in Panama at 3,474 meters. |
| 27. |
It is also an active stratovolcano. |
| 26. |
Panama was a Spanish colony until 1821 when it joined the Republic of Gran Colombia. |
| 25. |
Panama gained independence in 1903, after some help from the U.S. who were keen to build the canal. |
| 24. |
The population of Panama is now over 4 million (2016). |
| 23. |
The currency is the Balboa, which is pegged to the U.S. Dollar. U.S. Dollars are also accepted. |
| 22. |
The exchange rate is 1 balboa per U.S. Dollar. |
| 21. |
The official language is Spanish although approximately 15% of the population also speak English. |
| 20. |
Panama’s primary exports are Bananas, gold, shrimp, sugar, iron and steel waste, pineapples, watermelons. |
| 19. |
The Free Trade Zone in Panama is the second largest duty-free zone in the world. |
| 18. |
Business in this area is worth more than $5 billion annually. |
| 17. |
The oldest continually operating railroad is in Panama. It travels between Panama City and Colon. |
| 16. |
The railroad cost just short of $8 million to build and at one point was valued at over $295 a share. |
| 15. |
Panama was the first country in any of the Americas to elect a female President, Mireya Moscoso in 1999. |
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