Country in Central America bordering Colombia on the south and Costa Rica on the north. It was part of Colombia until 1903, which was when the United States, having decided on a good location for a canal from the Atlantic Ocean through to the Pacific Ocean, started supporting the revolutionary organizations in Panama which wanted independence. The U.S. continued to hold the area around the canal, and interfere a lot in Panama to protect the canal, throughout the 1900s, including the 1989 invasion where the country's effective ruler Manuel Noriega was taken to the US and tried for drug trafficking (he was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 1992). As of January 1, 2000, the Canal Zone has been returned to Panama, to their great happiness.

Panama in native Indian languages means:

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