Department of Panama
Panama, 1886–1903. Draft, not yet reviewed
Panama was one of the Departments of Colombia, created under the 1886 constitution. The people of the isthmus made over 80 attempts to secede from Colombia. In 1903, it achieved independence as the modern Republic of Panama with the concession of the Panama Canal Zone to the United States. Colombia did not formally recognize the sovereignty of Panama until 1909.
Seat of power: Panama City
Rulers
Rafael Núñez
President of Colombia, 1886–1894
He was a Colombian author, lawyer, journalist and politician, who was elected president of Colombia in 1880 and in 1884. He was the leader of the so-called "Regeneration" process which produced the Colombian Constitution of 1886 which was to remain until 1991. He served as a Circuit Judge in Chiriquí, Panama, in 1848.
Portrait of Rafael Núñez: Oleo de Epifanio Garay., Public domain, file
Eliseo Payán
President of Colombia, 1887–1888
He assumed the Presidency of Colombia because of the absence of President Rafael Núñez in 1887. He was a Colombian lawyer, politician, and military officer.
Portrait of Eliseo Payán: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Miguel Antonio Caro Tobar
President of Colombia, 1892–1898
He served as the 4th president of Colombia from 1894 to 1898. A member of the Conservative Party, Caro served as the 2nd vice president of Colombia from 1892 to 1894 under Rafael Núñez. He was a Colombian writer, thinker, poet, and politician.
Portrait of Miguel Antonio Caro Tobar: Cultura Banco de la República, Public domain, file
Manuel Antonio Sanclemente
President of Colombia, 1898–1900
He was President of Colombia between 1898 and 1900. While in poor health, he was overthrown in a 1900 coup.
Portrait of Manuel Antonio Sanclemente: Epifanio Julián Garay Caicedo, Public domain, file
José Manuel Marroquín
President of Colombia, 1900–1904
He was a Colombian political figure and the 44th President of Colombia. Later, he was also co-founder of the Academia Colombiana de la Lengua along with Miguel Antonio Caro and José María Vergara.
Portrait of José Manuel Marroquín: Ricardo Acevedo Bernal, Public domain, file
Culture
- The railroad was hailed as an international engineering achievement and cost US$8 million and the lives of an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 workers.
- The original line was built by the United States and the principal incentive was the vast increase in passenger and freight traffic from the Eastern United States to California following the 1849 California Gold Rush.
- The first revenue train ran over the full length on January 28, 1855.
- The Thousand Days' War of 1899-1902 is understood among Indigenous Panamanians as a struggle for land rights under the leadership of Victoriano Lorenzo.
Picture
The Panama Canal Railway links the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in Central America and opened in 1855.
Image: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.