![]() Most of Panama's islands lie off its Pacific coast, where the waters are extraordinarily shallow. The northern coastline is lined by hundreds of small islands that form the Bocas del Torro Archipelago near the Costa Rican border and the San Blas Archipelago to the east near Colombia. There are more than 1,600 islands off Panama's northern (Caribbean) and southern (Pacific) coasts. The Darian Gap, fronting the border with Colombia, is an inhospitable, almost impassable thick jungle. They begin with the Chiriqui Gulf to the west and continue east with the Azuero Peninsula jutting south to define the Gulf of Panama.ĭarien Province, in the east, is a sparsely populated land of rainforests and swamps bordered by high mountain peaks. ![]() Like the Pacific lowlands, the Atlantic lowlands contain forest and farmland. The Pacific coastline is more indented and irregular, and its continental shelf is much broader than that on the Caribbean side, where the largest embayment is Chiriquí Lagoon. Panama's extensive coastal lowlands comprise more than 85% of the country's total land area. Panama physiographic map Coastal Lowlands The dormant volcano reaches an elevation of 3,475 m (11,400 ft), the highest point in the country and the 12th highest peak in Central America. The country's highest peak is Volcán Barú (Volcán de Chiriquí). They are separated near the country's center by a saddle of lower land, where the Panama Canal is located.Ī lower mountain arc extends along the country's southern coast, appearing only in separate segments. These ranges form the Continental Divide, separating Pacific and Caribbean-facing slopes. The Tabasará Mountains (Cordillera Central) in the west Panama has two principal mountain ranges that run down its center in both the east and west, extending almost the entire length of the country: Panama's landscape consists of three major physical regions: ![]() Location map of the countries of Central America The Natural and Geographic Landscape of Panama Physical Regions Panama has a hot and humid tropical climate, with a long rainy season from May to January and a short dry season from January to May. BiodiversityĪccording to the Global Biodiversity Index, Panama is the 25th most biodiverse country in the world, with 885 bird species, 228 amphibian species, 1,428 species of fish, 252 species of mammals, 279 species of reptiles, and 10,462 species of vascular plants. Its sandy beach coastlines merge into forested lowlands that rise into the foothills of the inland mountain ranges. Its coastline on the Pacific Ocean stretches approximately 1,225 km (760 mi), and its Caribbean coastline is about 760 km (470 mi) in length. It is renowned as the site of the Panama Canal, which cuts through its midsection. The country is located on the elongated S-shape Isthmus of Panama, the narrow land bridge that connects North America and South America. It is bounded to the north by the Caribbean Sea and to the south by the Pacific Ocean. Panama is the southernmost country of Central America, sharing a border with Costa Rica in the northwest and Colombia on the South American continent in the southeast.
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