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Panamanians

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For information on the population of Panama, seeDemographics of Panama.
Panamanians
Panameños
Flag of Panama
Total population
Panama4,279 million
Regions with significant populations
United States99,764[1]
Costa Rica13,711[1]
Spain5,730[1]
Colombia3,123[1]
Canada2,814[1]
Mexico1,767[1]
Italy1,102[1]
Ecuador1,008[1]
Venezuela828[1]
Germany811[1]
United Kingdom789[1]
Dominican Republic789[1]
Brazil660[1]
Peru644[1]
Switzerland588[1]
France582[1]
El Salvador458[1]
Nicaragua423[1]
Honduras406[1]
Netherlands390[1]
Guatemala321[1]
Sweden319[1]
Australia289[1]
Belgium211[1]
Argentina161[1]
Greece158[1]
Bolivia121[1]
Denmark101[1]
Norway85[1]
Jamaica74[1]
Languages
Religion
PredominantlyRoman Catholicism[2]
Judaism,Protestantism,Santería,Baháʼí
Related ethnic groups
Afro-Panamanians,Nicaraguans,Costa Ricans,Colombians,and otherLatin Americans

Panamanians(Spanish:Panameños) are people identified withPanama,a country inCentral America(which is the central section of the American continent), and with residential, legal, historical, or cultural connections with North America. For most Panamanians, several or all of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their Panamanian identity. Panama is a multilingual and multicultural society, home to people of many different ethnicities and religions. Therefore, many Panamanians do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance to Panama. The overwhelming majority of Panamanians are the product of varying degrees of admixture betweenEuropean ethnic groups(predominantlySpaniards) with nativeAmerindians(who are indigenous to Panama's modern territory) andBlack Africans.

The culture held in common by most Panamanians is referred to as mainstreamPanamanian culture,a culture largely derived from the traditions of theIndigenous peopleand the earlySpanishsettlers, along with other Europeans arriving later such asItalians,with westAfricanculture as another important component.

Culture

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Main article:Culture of Panama

The culture of Panama derived from the cultures ofIndigenous peoples of Panama,artandtraditions,as well asAfrican Culturethat were brought over by theSpanishtoPanama.Hegemonicforces have createdhybridforms of this by blendingAfricanandNative Americanculture withEuropean culture.For example, thetamboritois a Spanish dance with that was blended with Native American rhythms and dance moves. Dance is a symbol of the diverse cultures that have coupled inPanama. The culture, customs, and language of the Panamanians are predominantly Caribbean and Spanish.

Ethnic groups

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Ethnic Groups[3]

Mestizos(mixedAmerindianandWhite) (65%)
Native Americans(12.3%)
Black or African descent(9.2%)
Mulattos(mixed Black African and White) (6.8%)
White(6.7%)

Mestizo

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Main article:Demographics of Panama

Mestizosare people who are of mixed of both European and indigenous ancestry. Mestizos are the majority in Panama, accounting for 65% of the country's population.

Indigenous or Amerindian

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Main article:Indigenous peoples of Panama

Indigenous or Native Panamanians, are thenative peoplesofPanama.According to the 2010 census, they make up 12.3% of the overall population of 3.4 million, or just over 418,000 people. TheNgäbeandBuglécomprise half of the indigenous peoples of Panama.[4]

Indigenous population of Panama by ethnic group[5]
Ethnic
group 		1990 2000 2010
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Ngäbe (Guaymi) 123,626 63.6 169,130 59.3 260,058 62.3
Buglé (Bokota) 3,784 1.9 18,724 6.6 26,871 6.4
Guna 47,298 24.3 61,707 21.6 80,526 19.3
Emberá 14,659 7.5 22,485 7.9 31,284 7.5
Wounaan 2,605 1.3 6,882 2.4 7,279 1.7
Teribe/Naso 2,194 1.1 3,305 1.2 4,046 1.0
Bribri 2,521 0.9 1,068 0.3
Other 103 0.1 460 0.1
Not declared 477 0.2 5,967 1.4

Black

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Felipe Baloy
Main article:Afro-Panamanian

Afro-Panamaniansplayed a significant role in the creation of the republic. The descendants of the Africans who arrived during the colonial era are intermixed in the general population or live in small Afro-Panamanian communities along the Atlantic Coast and in villages within the Darién jungle. Most of the people in Darien are fishermen or small-scale farmers growing crops such as bananas, rice and coffee as well as raising livestock. Other Afro-Panamanians descend from later migrants from the Caribbean who came to work on railroad-construction projects, commercial agricultural enterprises, and (especially) the canal. Important Afro-Caribbean community areas include towns and cities such asColón,Cristobal and Balboa, in the former Canal Zone, as well as the Río Abajo area of Panama City. Another region with a large Afro-Caribbean population is the province of Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean coast just south of Costa Rica.[6]

Most of the Panamanian population of West Indian descent owe their presence in the country to the monumental efforts to build the Panama Canal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Three-quarters of the 50,000 workers who built the canal were Afro Caribbean migrants from the British West Indies. Thousands of Afro-Caribbean workers were recruited from Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad.[6]

White or Europeans

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Juan Carlos Varela37thPresident of Panama.

White Panamanians form 6.7%,[7]with the majority being ofSpanishdescent. Other ancestries includes Dutch, English, French, German, Swiss, Danish, Irish, Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian. There is also a sizable and very influential Jewish community.

  • Spanish laborers during construction of the Panama Canal, early 1900s.
    Spanish laborers during construction of the Panama Canal, early 1900s.

Asian

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Jorge Cham

Panama, partly owing to its historical reliance on commerce, is an ethnically diverse society. It has considerable populations of Afro-Antillean andChinese origin.The firstChinese immigrated to Panamafrom southern China to help build the Panama Railroad in the 19th century. There followed several waves of immigrants whose descendants number around 50,000. Starting in the 1970s, a further 80,000 have immigrated from other parts of China as well.[8][9]

Population of Panama according to ethnic group[5]
Ethnic
group 		Census 1990 Census 2000 Census 2010
Number % Number % Number %
Non-indigenous 2,135,060 91.7 2,553,946 90.0 2,988,254 87.7
Amerindian 194,269 8.3 285,231 10.0 417,559 12.3
Total 2,329,329 2,839,177 3,405,813

Languages

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Spanishis the official and dominant language. About 93% of the population speak Spanish as their first language, though many citizens speak both English and Spanish or native languages, such asNgäbere.Many languages, including seven indigenous languages, are also spoken in Panama. English is sometimes spoken by many professionals and those working in the business or governmental sectors of society.

Religion

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Main article:Religion in Panama
Iglesia San Pedro,Taboga Island,Panama. The Iglesia San Pedro is the second-oldest colonial church in the Western Hemisphere.[10]

The government ofPanamadoes not collect statistics on the religious affiliation of citizens, but various sources estimate that 75 to 85 percent of the population identifies itself asRoman Catholicand 15 to 25 percent asevangelical Christian.[11]TheBaháʼí Faithcommunity of Panama is estimated at 2.00% of the national population, or about 60,000[12]including about 10% of theGuaymípopulation;[13]the Baháʼís maintain one of the world's eightBaháʼí Houses of Worshipin Panama.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacad"Panamá - Emigrantes totales".expansion / Datosmacro(in Spanish).
  2. ^The Latin American Socio-Religious Studies Program / Programa Latinoamericano de Estudios Sociorreligiosos (PROLADES)PROLADES Religion in America by country
  3. ^"CIA - The World Factbook -- Panama".CIA.Retrieved2013-10-07.
  4. ^"Panama History: Indigenous People."Archived2010-11-25 at theWayback MachinePanama Experts.(retrieved 23 Feb 2011)
  5. ^ab[1]Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censo (INEC)
  6. ^ab "Panama: Afro-Panamanians".Minority Rights Group International. Archived fromthe originalon December 3, 2012.RetrievedJune 26,2010.
  7. ^"Panama; People; Ethnic groups".CIA World Factbook.Retrieved2007-11-21.
  8. ^Jackson, Eric (May 2004)."Panama's Chinese community celebrates a birthday, meets new challenges".The Panama News.10(9). Archived fromthe originalon September 16, 2007.RetrievedNovember 7,2007.
  9. ^ "President Chen's State Visit to Panama".Government Information Office, Republic of China. October 2003. Archived fromthe originalon August 14, 2007.RetrievedNovember 7,2007.
  10. ^Katzman, Patricia.Panama.Hunter Publishing (2005),p106.ISBN1-58843-529-6.
  11. ^abInternational Religious Freedom Report 2007: Panama.United StatesBureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor(September 14, 2007).This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
  12. ^"Panama".WCC > Member churches > Regions > Latin America > Panama.World Council of Churches. 2006-01-01. Archived fromthe originalon 2008-07-08.Retrieved2008-07-01.
  13. ^International Community, Baháʼí(October–December 1994)."In Panama, some Guaymis blaze a new path".One Country.1994(October–December). Archived fromthe originalon 2014-08-02.Retrieved2015-01-05.
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