Panama has been inhabited for 10,000 years, and earlier inhabitants were part of a trade route that spread south through Latin America. Apart from the remaining indigenous communities, archaeologists have discovered few ancient ruins the likes of which are scattered across the landscapes of Panama’s neighbours. Nevertheless, some traces of ancient life are visible in statues, pottery and gold ornaments, giving clues to the territory’s lost civilisations.

More in evidence is the influence of the Spanish, who landed in Panama in 1502 and founded the original Panama City – Panama Viejo – less than 20 years later. The Spanish implemented their own societies, obliterating ancient ones. Panama City was only the beginning – the Spanish went on to conquer the Inca Empire. Now the country is strewn with colonial buildings, especially in the Casco Viejo in Panama City, their peeling walls evidence of enormous wealth now lost.

After 300 years of Spanish rule, Latin America was in a state of revolt and Panama was no exception – the territory was incorporated into Colombia, a decision the Panamanians spent the next 80 years trying to reverse. Finally, after a period of intense riots and changes in power, Panama declared its independence in 1903.

The building of the Panama Canal, completed in 1914, changed everything. 75,000 labourers of of all conceivable backgrounds flocked to Panama at the prospect of work and building a new life for themselves, starting a wave of new and wholly distinct cultures. The United States bought the rights to the Panama Canal Zone and had enormous influence in the country’s governance – the wealth generated by the Canal was largely siphoned back to the United States.

The twentieth century saw many struggles over rights to the canal. A military coup in 1968 led by General Omar Torrijos Herrera established a Panamanian dictatorship. Herrera’s successor, his former intelligence chief, Manuel Noriega, led to strained relations with the US and eventually the loss of US financial assistance. By the time President George Bush sent in forces to wrest power from the dictator, Panama was suffering from a crippling lack of funds, and spent most of the 1990s slowly getting back on its feet.

Perhaps the most important moment of Panama’s history was the official handing over of the Panama Canal by the US to Panama, an event that finally gave the country true independence and which was to alter its future immeasurably. In 1977, during the Torrijos dictatorship, a treaty was signed between Panama and the US agreeing that the US would hand over the rights to the canal by 1999.

Today, there is an alarming discrepancy between rich and poor in Panama. But plans for an ambitious expansion of the Panama Canal are being implemented, allowing more traffic to pass through the canals. Trade routes should flourish, allowing the country to prosper and grow.