Panama: Physical Geography

Panama occupies the narrow, S-shaped Isthmus of Panama, the strip of land connecting Central and South America, bordered by Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east. The country is relatively small, covering about 75,400 square kilometers, and is bounded by the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south; at its narrowest, the isthmus measures only about 50 kilometers across. A central spine of mountains and hills runs nearly the length of the country, forming the continental divide and separating Caribbean- and Pacific-facing slopes. In the west, the Cordillera Central includes the Cordillera de Talamanca and Volcan Baru, an inactive volcano that last erupted in 1550 and, at 3,475 meters, is Panama's highest point.

The country's two coastlines differ sharply in shape and character. The Caribbean coast is generally concave and sheltered, lined with natural harbors and island groups such as the Bocas del Toro and San Blas archipelagos. The Pacific coast, by contrast, is deeply convex and indented by large gulfs and peninsulas, including the Gulf of Panama and the Azuero Peninsula, and it holds the great majority of Panama's more than 1,600 islands, among them the Pearl Islands and Coiba. Tides illustrate the contrast as well: the Pacific coast experiences a range of more than seven meters between high and low water, compared with less than a meter on the Caribbean side.

Nearly 500 rivers drain Panama's rugged terrain, most of them short and unnavigable, though the Chagres River is a notable exception, feeding Gatun Lake and supplying water and hydroelectric power to the Panama Canal. The lowest, most accessible saddle in the central mountain spine lies near the canal's route, which is part of why the waterway was built there to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the isthmus.