The Republic of Panama presently has 10 regions and a large portion of their names speak to the way of life and customs of the distinctive areas. Some have their sources in the distinctive Amerindian tongues of the diverse tribes that at some point possessed a specific territory. Here is a rundown of what the distinctive names of the areas mean next time you visit for your Panama excursions.
Panama
Panama took this name, as indicated by a few history specialists because of a grand tree that is referred to locally as Panama. It has verdant shade and it was extremely normal and local families used to get together under its branches. Others trust that the name Panama implies wealth of fish and butterflies.
Darien
The significance of Darien has its underlying foundations in the tongue talked by the Cueva indian, an indigenous tribe that was eliminated by the Spanish winners in the XVI century. It originates from the name Tanel or Tanela, the waterway that streams into the left bank of the lower Atrato. The Tanela waterway (the Aluka Tiwal of the locals), Spanish form and worsened by elocution, in the end got to be Darien.
Colón
This area is of incredible significance for the Panama Canal and trust it or not for a long time did not have a specific name. In any case, John Lloyd Stephens, who arranged the Panamanian railroad proposed that it ought to be called William Henry Aspinwall, who was one of the Pacific Mail executives, the organization that was financing the rail line.
At long last on February 27 of 1852 Colón was authoritatively established. The name Aspinwall-Colón kept on bringing about discontent in the populace, until Colombia, of which Panama was part, come back to sender all the mail that had been composed the address Aspinwall Colón. From that point forward its official name has been Colón.
Panama West
This is the most up to date area in the nation and made by the Law 110 of December 30, 2013.
Its name is not related to a chronicled occasion and for the most part it needs to do with the geological position in which is found. It is otherwise called "satellite town".
Coclé
This region was purified through water after the strong Cocle River in the north and Cocle River in the south, which cross its domain. A few students of history trust that the name needs to do with the Chieftain Cocle, who commanded the Central Plain.
Veraguas
The word Veraguas has diverse starting points and implications. It is likely that the word Veraguas has Arabic impacts.
Be that as it may, it is not known precisely, the word Veragua was utilized to allude to the local tenants of the place to allude to the Quibian lands or if Admiral Cristobal Colón submersed with this name the terrains.
A few scholars said that in the Ngäbe exists a word "Bera Gwa" which signifies "ocean bass".
Herrera
Chronicled information about the territory affirmed that it was given that name to respect the General Tomás Herrera. He was a military man and a government official from the recently made nation of New Granada, president of the Republic of Colombia and Head of State of the Free State of the Isthmus from 1840 to 1840.
The historical background of Herrera, from which the Spanish surname Herrera is begun is a subordinate of the Latin word ferrum, whose importance is press.
Los Santos
Los Santos area took its name from its previous capital, the Villa de Los Santos, that was established on November 1569, the date of the catholic party of "All Saints Day".
Chiriquí
As per recorded data Chiriqui signifies "valley of the moon" for the Ngäbe-Buglé individuals.
The Amerindians exactly when the Spanish vanquishers arrived, they called this district Chiriquí or Cheriqué, word that signifies "valley of the moon'.
Roots of Panama's territories names: Bocas del Toro
There are a ton forms about how this territory got the name of "Bocas del Toro". A few researchers said that the last chieftain to occupy this district was a solid character and was an indefatigable contender also called "Boka Toro".
Another hypothesis is that in one of Christopher Columbus voyages, because of the solid tempests along the drift and attempting to discover nourishment in the close-by Bastimentos island, he saw a stone in the state of a "bull resting with the mouth open".
The third clarification is that between the passage from the ocean to the territory, the waves that hit the stone of Bastimentos island make a sound like a bull thundering with awesome drive.