Historical Writing on Colonial Panama

EITHER here nor is an apt phrase to begin this review of the historical literature relating to the isthmus of Panama. Central Americanists consider the isthmus a part of the Gran Colombian region or, perhaps, an economic and political appendage of the viceregal court at Lima, while Colombianists and Peruvianists view Panama as part of a distant periphery or, worse, as one of a series of dictator-dominated banana republics between Mexico and South America. The specifics of Panamanian history have tended to blur the issue. Before the conquest, Panama was sandwiched between Chibcha and Maya cultures, sharing commonalities with both, but part of neither. For most of the colonial period, Panama was directly tied to Peru; during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was more or less integrated into New Granada and Colombia. Since achieving independence in 1903, however, Panama has made efforts to distance itself from Colombia, instead becoming a major player in Central American and Caribbean affairs. Given the confusion as to Panama's proper place in the historiographical tradition of Latin America, scholars of the Gran Colombian region and Central America alike have rarely considered Panama a topic of study.' Conversely, students of Panamanian history find themselves poised between two larger historical structures, unable to find a home in either, and perhaps not wanting to.2 Nevertheless, there exists a substantial body of literature relating to the history of Panama, though much of it is almost unknown. In the noted Griffin Guide of 1971, under the heading General, Panama has

Archaeology · Art · Biology · Colonialism · Dictator · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Historiography · Independence (probability theory) · Latin Americans · Literature · Panama · Political science · Politics · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Cuban History and Society · Ecology · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · History and Politics in Latin America · Law · Philippine History and Culture

• "Los Gringos Vienen!" (The Gringos Are Coming)

  Open Access•Renée Alexander Craft•Transforming Anthropology•2008

  Add to list

• Aproximaciones a la población de Panamá Viejo a partir de la arqueología funeraria y la documentación histórica, 1519-1671

  Open Access•Bethany Aram, Juan Guillermo Martins et al.•Anuario de Estudios Americanos•2020

  Add to list