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 Three million years ago a thin strip of land emerged from the sea, uniting the Americas. The recently formed bridge turned into the path of an ongoing natural pilgrimage.
Time immemorial testifies the passage of the strangest animals and the recently appeared humans through this narrow bridge of land. At that moment, Panama defined its vocation to be a place of transit and travel. Thousands of years later, other men arrived by sea and crossed the narrow strip from one ocean to the other.
Centuries later, the same path was covered by the natives, the Conquistadors, the Inca gold followers, pirates, slaves, the railway builders, the California gold hunters and the incoming ships from coasts and seas all over the world.
Today, the Panama Canal stands as a living monument to this land of transit, this crossroads, stretching over a historic path trodden by those who opened the way and by the footsteps of those who remained. After that first meeting the people came, creating a culture and this culture became a country, in the most spectacular way. |
