{"id":21462,"date":"2017-11-07T13:55:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T18:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=21462"},"modified":"2017-11-08T13:19:48","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T18:19:48","slug":"17-things-didnt-know-panama-worlds-happiest-tax-haven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/17-things-didnt-know-panama-worlds-happiest-tax-haven\/","title":{"rendered":"17 things you didn’t know about Panama"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Oliver Smith writes for The Telegraph in the UK about Panama.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Independence Day in Panama. On November 3, 1903, the country seceded from the Republic of Colombia, which it joined more than 80 years before (having previously been part of the Spanish Empire). Here are a few facts about the Central American nation.<\/p>\n

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1. Freedom wasn\u2019t quite freedom<\/h3>\n

November 3 may be celebrated, but the US maintained a military presence in the isthmus that had been there since 1850. It was the US Army Corps of Engineers that oversaw the construction of the Panama Canal, and though in 1977 management of the waterway was handed over to Panama, the US invaded the country in 1989. Panama has only enjoyed complete sovereignty since December 31 1999.<\/p>\n

2. Scotland tried to start a colony there<\/h3>\n

Bar a few abortive forays in North America, Scotland\u2019s first and last attempt at empire building was a disastrous 17th century expedition to the Dari\u00e9n Gap, which lies on the border of Panama and Colombia and is considered one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.\u00a0The farcical episode would see hundreds of would-be colonists die<\/a>\u00a0and bankrupt the nation, eventually leading to union with England and the loss of independence.<\/p>\n

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\"Scotland<\/div>
Scotland tried to build an outpost in the jungles of Panama. It didn’t go well<\/span>\u00a0CREDIT:<\/span>\u00a0GETTY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

3. Half its population lives in the capital<\/h3>\n

Panama City is home to around half of the country\u2019s four million residents. Chris Moss, our expert to Central America, reckons it\u2019s the region\u2019s most cosmopolitan city, with a particularly energetic nightlife. \u201cHigh-rise, modern architecture abuts colonial buildings, and beaches and rainforests are a short taxi-ride away,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

4. 27,600 people died building the Panama Canal<\/h3>\n

The first failed attempt at building a canal, by a French company between 1881 and 1889, saw\u00a022,000 workers killed, nearly all from disease – either yellow fever or malaria<\/a>. A further 5,600 died during the second, successful, attempt, from 1904 to 1914.<\/p>\n

The other numbers behind the project are equally astonishing. It cost $8.6 billion (\u00a36.5bn), 15,910,972 cubic metres of earth was excavated during the build, while the toll – $72 per TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) – means ships must pay as much as $300,000 (\u00a3229,000) to use it. But use it they do. Around 40 a day travel its 48-mile length (the alternative is an 8,000-mile detour around the Horn).<\/p>\n

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A modern wonder, but it came at a price<\/span>\u00a0CREDIT:<\/span>\u00a0GETTY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

5. You can go birdwatching in a former radar tower<\/h3>\n

\u201cCanopy Tower is Panama\u2019s most celebrated wildlife-watching bolt-hole,\u201d\u00a0said Mike Unwin, following a visit for Telegraph Travel<\/a>. \u201cPerched atop the forested Semaphore Hill in Soberan\u00eda National Park, just outside Panama City, this incongruous lighthouse-like structure was once a US radar station. Local conservationist Ra\u00fal Arias has since converted it into an ingenious wildlife facility that doubles as research station and tourist lodge. Inside, the living quarters retain a no-frills functionality. But the beauty of the place comes on the top floor, where a circular lounge\/dining room looks out directly into the treetops and, best of all, a ceiling hatch opens on to an outdoor observation deck, commanding a 360-degree vista of rainforest canopy. It\u2019s a roof garden to beat all roof gardens.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Panama<\/div>
Panama is heaven for birders<\/span>\u00a0CREDIT:<\/span>\u00a0GETTY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

6. It\u2019s a happy place<\/h3>\n

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