Panamá District, Administrative district in Panama City, Panama
The district includes business areas, residential blocks, and government offices that reach from the Pacific shoreline to the surrounding hills. The territory connects modern towers with older neighborhoods and parks along the coast.
Pedro Arias Dávila founded the capital on the Pacific coast in 1519 after earlier settlements on the Caribbean side were abandoned. The location enabled trade between the oceans and made it the center of Spanish rule in the region.
The name comes from an indigenous word meaning rich in fish, reflecting the bay that allowed early settlement by the sea. Today visitors walk through neighborhoods where Spanish is heard alongside English and Chinese, showing the layers of trade and migration.
The area is reachable by metro lines and bus connections that link different neighborhoods together. Most streets are flat along the coast, while some residential sections sit on slopes and require more effort to walk.
The boundaries hold both the financial center with its glass towers and the colonial buildings of Casco Viejo in a single unit. This mix lets visitors move between centuries within just a few kilometers.
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