Panama City: Difference between revisions

| native_name = {{lang|es|Ciudad de Panamá}}

| settlement_type = [[Capital city]]

| image_flag = Bandera de Ciudad de Panamá.svg

| image_shield = Coat of Arms of Panama City.svg

| leader_title =

| leader_title1 = Mayor

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| population_density_km2 = auto

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| population_note = <ref name=Panama-Census>{{cite web|url=https://www.contraloria.gob.pa/inec/archivos/P3601Cuadro11.xls |title=Cuadro 11. Superficie, población y densidad de población en la República, según Provincia, Comarca indígena, Distrito y Corregimiento: Censos de 1990, 2000 y 2010 |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censo, Contraloría General de la República de Panamá |access-date=11 November 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326191401/https://www.contraloria.gob.pa/inec/archivos/P3601Cuadro11.xls |archive-date=26 March 2016 }}</ref>

| postal_code_type = <!-- enter ZIP code, Postcode, Post code, Postal code... -->

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The city of Panama was founded on 15 August 1519, by Spanish conquistador [[Pedro Arias Dávila]]. The city was the starting point for expeditions that conquered the [[Inca Empire]] of Peru. It was a stopover point on one of the most important trade routes in the American continent, leading to the fairs of [[Nombre de Dios, Colón|Nombre de Dios]] and [[Portobelo, Colón|Portobelo]], through which passed most of the gold and silver that Spain mined from the Americas.

[[File:Grand Hotel Panama 1875.png|thumb|right|Former Gran Hotel located in Panama City, illustration of 1875. Currently houses the [[Panama Canal Museum]].]]

[[File:La Plaza, Panamá, 1875.jpg|thumb|right|Plaza Mayor de Panamá in 1875, by [[Eadweard Muybridge]]. Now called the Plaza Independencia.]]

 

In 1671 [[Henry Morgan]] with a band of 1,400 men [[Henry Morgan's Panama expedition|attacked and looted the city]], which was subsequently destroyed by fire. The ruins of the old city still remain and are a popular tourist attraction known as [[Panamá Viejo]] (Old Panama). The city was rebuilt in 1673 in a new location approximately {{convert|5|mi|km|0}} southwest of the original city. This location is now known as the [[Casco Viejo, Panama|Casco Viejo]] (Old Quarter) of the city. Panama City is the fourth earliest-founded of the modern-day capital cities in the Americas.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Nearly 500 rivers lace Panama's rugged landscape. Most are unnavigable; many originate as swift highland streams, meander in valleys, and form coastal deltas. However, the Río Chepo and the Río Chagres, both within the boundaries of the city, work as sources of hydroelectric power.

 

 

===Climate===

Tourism is one of the most important economic activities in terms of revenue generation. This sector of the economy has seen a great deal of growth since the transfer of the Panama Canal Zone at the end of the twentieth century. The number of hotel rooms increased by more than ten-fold, from 1,400 in 1997 to more than 15,000 in 2013, while the number of annual visitors increased from 457,000 in 1999 to 1.4&nbsp;million in 2011.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/travel/panama-city-rising.html|title=Panama City Rising|last=Neville|first=Tim|date=3 May 2013|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=14 November 2016}}</ref> The city's hotel occupancy rate has always been relatively high, reaching the second highest for any city outside the United States in 2008, after [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth, Australia]], and followed by [[Dubai]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://panamarealestateinvestment.org/2008/05/06/panama-city-has-the-second-highest-hotel-occupancy-outside-of-the-united-states/ |title=Panama City Has The Second Highest Hotel Occupancy Outside Of The United States |date=6 May 2008 |access-date=17 February 2011}}</ref> However, hotel occupancy rates have dropped since 2009, probably due to the opening of many new luxury hotels.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globaledge.co.uk/news/hotel-occupancy-rates-see-sharp-drop-36008 |title=Hotel occupancy rates see sharp drop. |date=21 October 2009 |access-date=17 February 2011 |archive-date=5 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905235648/http://www.globaledge.co.uk/news/hotel-occupancy-rates-see-sharp-drop-36008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Several international hotel chains, such as [[Le Méridien]], [[Radisson Hotels|Radisson]], and [[RIU Hotels|RIU]], have opened or plan to open new hotels in the city,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elpanama-hotel.com/twenty-two-hotels-are-under-construction-in-panama/ |title=Twenty-two Hotels are Under Construction in Panama. |access-date=17 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710184318/http://www.elpanama-hotel.com/twenty-two-hotels-are-under-construction-in-panama/ |archive-date=10 July 2011 }}</ref> along with those previously operating under [[Marriott International|Marriott]], [[Sheraton Hotels and Resorts|Sheraton]], [[InterContinental Hotels Group|InterContinental]], and other foreign and local brands. The [[Trump Organization]] built the Trump Ocean Club, its first investment in Latin America,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=A8159_0_11_0_M |title=Donald J. Trump Launches His First Luxury Development in Panama |date=26 April 2006 |access-date=17 February 2011 |archive-date=10 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710173224/http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=A8159_0_11_0_M |url-status=dead }}</ref> in 2006 and it is the tallest building in the city. In 2018 it was renamed [[The Bahia Grand Panama]] following falling occupancy rates associated with the declining brand value of the Trump name.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-trump-panama-hotel-showdown-appears-to-end-and-the-trump-name-is-coming-down/2018/03/05/41fa8498-2097-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html |title=Trump's name is stripped from Panama hotel |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=5 March 2018 |access-date=9 May 2018}}</ref> Meanwhile, it is a [[JW Marriott]] property. [[Hilton Worldwide]] opened a Hilton Garden Inn in El Cangrejo, and in 2013, The Panamera, the second [[Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts|Waldorf Astoria Hotel]] in Latin America.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.hiltonworldwide.com/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/22987 |title=Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts Expands into Latin America with opening of Waldorf Astoria Panama |date=18 March 2013 |access-date=11 July 2014 |archive-date=14 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714125407/http://news.hiltonworldwide.com/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/22987 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

 

 

==Demographics==

==International relations==

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in North America}}

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*{{flagicon|USA}} [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], United States<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Sister Cities|url=https://www.charlestonsistercities.org/sister-cities|website=charlestonsistercities.org|publisher=Charleston Sister Cities International|access-date=2021-01-20}}</ref>