Panama Colonial Records

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Colonial Records

Spanish Colonization (1519-1821)

In 1519, Spain began their settlement of Panama by founding Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Panamá (present day Panama City), the first European settlement on the shores of the Pacific. Panama gained independence from Spain in 1821, but then joined the confederacy of Gran Colombia, a coalition of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The Gran Colombia confederacy was abolished in 1831. Panama remained a province of Colombia until 1903.

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United States Involvement ( 1903-1999)

In 1878, France received a contract from Colombia to build a canal across the isthmus of Panama. However, by 1889 the project went bankrupt and in 1903 the United States took over the abandoned concessions. In return, the United States agreed to back Panama in its attempt to gain independence from Colombia. The Panama Canal opened in 1914, but the United States did not agree to relinquish control over the Canal Zone entirely to Panama until the negotiation of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties. These two treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal on December 31, 1999.

The United States continued to maintain numerous military bases and a substantial garrison throughout the Canal Zone to protect the American-owned Panama Canal and to maintain American control of this strategically important area. On December 20, 1989, United States troops invaded Panama in an effort to overthrow the Noriega regime. They achieved their objectives and began their withdrawal on December 27, 1989.

Record collection	Years covered	Record type	Language	Who is in the records