Colombia–Panama border

The Colombia–Panama border is the 339-kilometer-long (211 mi) international boundary between Colombia and Panama.^[1] It also splits the Darién Gap, a break across the South American and North American continents. This large watershed, forest, and mountainous area is in the north-western portion of Colombia's Chocó Department and south-eastern portion of Panama's Darién Province.

There is also a gap in the Pan-American Highway that begins in Turbo, Colombia, and ends in Yaviza, Panama, and is 106 km (66 mi) long. Road-building through this area is expensive and the environmental cost is high, and no political consensus in favour of road construction has emerged.

Description

The border starts in the north at Cabo Tiburón on the Caribbean Sea coast and proceeds overland to the south-west and then south-east via various peaks of the Serranía del Darién range as far as Alto Limón. It then proceeds south-westwards, except for a northwards Colombian protrusion in the vicinity of Cerro Pirre, terminating in the south on the Pacific coast at Punto Equidistante.

The geography of the Colombian side is dominated primarily by the river delta of the Atrato River, which creates a flat marshland at least 80 km (50 mi) wide, half of this being swampland. The Serranía del Baudó range extends along Colombia's Pacific coast and into Panama. The Panamanian side, in sharp contrast, is a mountainous rainforest, with terrain reaching from 60 m (197 ft) in the valley floors to 1,845 m (6,053 ft) at the tallest peak (Cerro Tacarcuna, in the Serranía del Darién).

History

Pre-Columbian history

Archaeological knowledge of this area has received relatively little attention compared to its adjoining neighbors to the north and south, despite the fact that scholars such as

Scotland tried to establish a settlement in 1698 through the Darien scheme, independent Scotland's one major attempt at colonialism. The first expedition of five ships (Saint Andrew, Caledonia, Unicorn, Dolphin, and Endeavour) set sail from Leith on July 14, 1698, with around 1,200 people on board.^[5] Their orders were "to proceed to the Bay of Darien, and make the Isle called the Golden Island ... some few leagues to the leeward of the mouth of the great River of Darien ... and there make a settlement on the mainland".^[6] After calling at Madeira and the West Indies, the fleet made landfall off the coast of Darien on November 2. The settlers christened their new home "New Caledonia".^[7]

The aim was for the colony to have an overland route that connected the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. From its contemporary time to the present day, claims have been made that the undertaking was beset by poor planning and provisioning, divided leadership, a poor choice of trade goods, devastating epidemics of disease, reported attempts by the East India Company to frustrate it, as well as a failure to anticipate the Spanish Empire's military response. It was finally abandoned in March 1700 after a siege by Spanish forces, which also blockaded the harbour. As the Company of Scotland was backed by approximately 20% of all the money circulating in Scotland, its failure left the entire Lowlands in substantial financial ruin and English financial incentives were a factor in persuading those in power to support the 1707 Acts of Union.^[8] According to this argument, the Scottish establishment (landed aristocracy and mercantile elites) considered that their best chance of being part of a major power would be to share the benefits of England's international trade and the growth of the English overseas possessions, so its future would have to lie in unity with England. Furthermore, Scotland's nobles were almost bankrupted by the Darien fiasco. The land where the Darien colony was built, in the modern province of Guna Yala, is virtually uninhabited today.

Post-colonial period

In 1810, Colombia declared independence from Spain, and united with Venezuela (and later Panama and Ecuador) to form Gran Colombia in 1819.^[3] The union split however in 1829–30, with Colombia (including Panama) separating off as the Republic of New Granada.^[3] In 1858 this was renamed the Granadine Confederation and in 1855 the state of Panama was created within it, with the border with the rest of the Confederation fixed the same years.^[3] The federal country was renamed the United States of Colombia in 1863, however the country was centralised in 1885.^[3] Panamanian separatism grew, with the country declaring independence in 1903 with the backing the United States, who wished to build a canal across the country.^[3]

On April 6, 1914 Colombia and the United States signed a treaty which recognised the 1855 Colombia–Panama border.^[3] Colombia and Panama concluded the Victoria-Velez Treaty in Bogotá on August 20, 1924, a border treaty signed by the Foreign Ministers of Panama, Nicolas Victoria, and Colombia, Jorge Velez.^[3] This treaty was officially registered in the Register No. 814 of the League of Nations Treaty Series, on August 17, 1925. The border was again based on the same Colombian law of June 9, 1855.^[9] The border was then demarcated on the ground via series of pillars, with the final alignment confirmed on June 17, 1938.^[3]

Migrant crises

Cubans entering the United States are typically able to receive residency under the

See also

• Colombia–Panama relations
• Darién Gap
• Darien scheme
• Gulf of Darién
• Lionel Wafer

References