Free Trade

Long Before the Canal, Global Trade Built Panama City

The narrow geography of the 50-mile Central American isthmus made it an obvious choice for trade routes between the Atlantic and Pacific.

Katarina Hall | From the May 2026 issue

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(Illustration: The Isthmus of Panama on the Height of the Chagres River (1850), Charles Christian Nahl; Wikimedia)

Panama City is often reduced to a canal. That's understandable: The Panama Canal is one of the most consequential pieces of infrastructure ever built. But that's also a misunderstanding. The canal didn't create Panama City's identity as a trading hub; it formalized it. Long before steel ships crossed from ocean to ocean, the isthmus functioned as a corridor for exchange, connection, and movement.

Arriving in Panama City today feels like landing in a more tropical version of Miami. Glass towers line the coast. Luxury malls sit beside logistics offices. Container ships hover offshore, waiting their turn to go through the canal's locks. A massive airport connects continents. The city looks global because it has always been oriented outward, and because it doubled down on trade even as much of the world turned inward.

Long before modern borders, indigenous peoples used the narrow 50-mile isthmus to move goods between the Atlantic and Pacific.........

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