BBC Looks at the Panama Canal ‘Zonians’
The BBC documents one of Panama City’s interesting culture twists in a new report focused on “Zonians,” the thousands of Americans who lived in Panama City while they helped build and maintain the Panama Canal.
The Zonians lived in their own enclave, bringing almost every aspect of American life to their community on the edge of the Canal. BBC describes it as living “a life of luxury in secluded tropical communities close to the Bay of Panama.”
Generations of families lived and thrived in the zone — part of Panama, yet separate. They lived a different existence from the rest of Panama, with their own schools, clubs and sports teams. They also maintained their U.S. citizenship and imported U.S. movies and products, creating a bit of Americana on the edge of Panama City.
“It was a strange kind of artificial place,” Michael Donoghue, author of Borderland on the Isthmus: Race, Culture, and the Struggle for the Canal Zone, told the BBC. His father once called the Zone “a small southern town transplanted into the middle of Central America.”
The Zonians are one of those tales that make Panama unique, part of the rich cultural tapestry of Panama. The U.S. returned the Canal to Panama in 2000, but the influence of the U.S. is still felt every day in Panama, from the use of the U.S. dollar to the number of Panamanians who speak excellent English.
The BBC report is also timely, with Panama celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Canal this week.
The full BBC report can be found here.
BBC also has a nice resource page for Panama, where they collect interesting articles about Panama. It can be found here.
Duncan McGowan is president of Punta Pacifica Realty, a Panama real estate agency focused on Punta Pacifica, the exclusive neighborhood of 18 towers perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
