Summary: The Causes Of The Separation Of Panama

The Causes of the Separation of Panama from Colombia Nowadays, Panama is a sovereign country with a diverse and rich cultural heritage and one of the countries with the highest economy increase in the last decade in Central America, but prior to being what it is today, this nation had to face many obstacles. Since its discovery, Panama came under Spanish control with the arrival of Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1501 (Harris, 1984). After they got the independence from Spain on November 28th of 1821, Panama formed part of the Great Colombia due to fear of a possible reconquest by Spain, and the irresistible attraction of the glorious figure of the liberator Simon Bolivar.
The Great Colombia, which consisted of what it is today as Colombia, Venezuela,
The term for the construction of the Panama Canal was conferred in Paris in 1879, which consisted of constructing a sea-level canal that would be completed in twelve years and the cost of $240,000,000. Nonetheless, the mismanagement, financial incompetence, and disorganization by the French made the company went into bankruptcy and finally abandon the project that many Panamanians desired. Thus, the resignation of the French to the project attracted the interest of the United States that at that time was planning to build the waterway in Nicaragua for military and commercial purposes. In 1902, the Americans made a concession to Colombia to take over the development of the canal with the Herran-Hay treaty. The treaty consisted of the construction and management of the canal and taking a small part of the Canal Zone for 100 years with the possibility to renew if it was needed. The government of Colombia rejected the agreement for fear that the United States over time will help Panama to become independent (Verrill, 1921). As a result, the temporary leaders in Panama fear that this deny may cause the United States to select the Nicaragua route for the canal. Also, the president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt saw
It began when Liberals’ chiefs order attacks along the Panama railroad in the Momotombo, a ship from Nicaragua. The main force of the Liberals went to take the city of Colon, but the Americans sent its marines, under the command of Capt. Thomas Perry, to ensure the railroad, and anything else, at the request of Colombia. Thus, the Liberal forces again give up, and another treaty was signed on November 29, 1901, between chiefs’ parties and the presence of Capt. Perry and other American officers. The Liberals tried to invade Panama for the last time on December 24, 1901, with a force of 1500 well-trained men commanded by General Herrera and with his small navy in the Pacific Ocean, but the United States informed him that they were going to defend the cities of Panama and Colon and along the railroad. Therefore, General Herrera went back to Aguadulce to enhance their presence in the center of the country and defeated the Conservatives forces that made them surrender on February 24, 1902. After intense and bloody battles and the intervention of the United States, Liberals and Conservatives signed a treaty of peace on November 19, 1902, on the board of the American Battleship, Wisconsin, that ended the civil war (Perez-Venero, 1978). Even though the civil war ended, the chaos that Panama had been facing since the civil war made that Panamanian citizens wanted the separation from