Isthmus Department Departamento del Istmo | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1824–1831 | |||||||||||||
 Flag .svg) Coat of arms | |||||||||||||
.svg) Isthmus Department (red) withinGran Colombia | |||||||||||||
| Status | Department of Gran Colombia | ||||||||||||
| Capital | Panamá | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||||||||||
| Government | Federal republic | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Established | 1824 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1831 | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
• 1825 estimate | 80,000 | ||||||||||||
| Currency | Peso | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Today part of | Panama, parts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua | ||||||||||||
TheDepartment of the Isthmus (Spanish:Departamento del Istmo, also known as theIsthmus Department orDepartment of Panama) was one of thedepartments of theRepublic of Gran Colombia. It was created in 1824 and named after theIsthmus of Panama. It covered the territory of what is now the country ofPanama and some disputed coastal territories farther northward along the Caribbean shoreline of present-dayCosta Rica andNicaragua (Mosquito Coast).
After theThousand Days' War and the influence of the United States to build thePanama Canal the former Department of Gran Colombiaseparated from Colombia and became theRepublic of Panama.
The region of Panama was part of theSpanish Empire duringthe wars of independence against the Spanish. On November 28, 1821, Panama proclaimed its independence from Spain. Independence was achieved without bloodshed and with the participation of the most prominent men of the country, who through their financial contributions neutralized the Spanish army that guarded the Isthmus. Panama's independence movement began on November 10, 1821 with theindependence of the Villa de Los Santos [es] led bySegundo Villarreal; eighteen days later, on November 28, after the patriot victory at theBattle of Carabobo, there was emancipation from the Spanish Empire and Panama's decision to voluntarily join Gran Colombia was officially proclaimed.[1]
Several factors influenced the final decision to join Panama to Gran Colombia, instead ofPeru, its main trading partner during the Spanish colonial era. Of these, the most important to join Gran Colombia was the figure ofSimón Bolívar, who at that time was at the height of his glory and popularity.[2]
Up until this point, Panama had remained within the Spanish monarchy and had avoided the troubles afflicting the rest of theViceroyalty of New Granada. On November 28, 1821 Panama was voluntarily annexed to Gran Colombia under theConstitution of Cúcuta, which had been promulgated on August 30, 1819. On February 9, 1822, by Executive Decree of theVice President of Gran Colombia,Francisco de Paula Santander, the Isthmus Department was provisionally created until the next meeting of Congress, with the same rights granted to the original departments created by the law of October 2, 1821.[3] He also divided it into two provinces:Panamá andVeraguas.
The Isthmus was characterized by a strong tendency towards autonomism, as an early antecedent we have the tenacious opposition of its political class, against the adoption of the Bolivian constitution that was intended to be implemented in Gran Colombia, despite all the efforts of the special envoy of Simón Bolívar and the pressure exerted by the intendant and military chief in the Isthmus.
In 1826, the same year in which the Isthmus rejected the Bolivian constitution, theCongress of Panama was held in the capital of the department. But this remarkable event was not an obstacle for the first attempt of separation from Colombia to take place in that year. It so happened that theCongress of Colombia ignored the requests for commercial franchises for the Isthmus, which frustrated Panamanian aspirations. Consequently, a separatist movement arose to turn Panama into aHanseatic country, under the protection of theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States. The movement was, however, repressed by the Colombian military stationed on the Isthmus.[4]
Regarding concrete separations, the first was carried out under the leadership ofGeneral José Domingo Espinar [es], who separated the Isthmus on September 26, 1830. However, he returned to reintegrate it to Gran Colombia on December 11 of the same year. The second attempt was made by ColonelJuan Eligio Alzuru [es] on July 9, 1831, following the example of Venezuela and Ecuador. But the movement was suffocated and its leaders executed on August 29 of that year by orders of GeneralTomás de Herrera.[2]
The department of the Isthmus was constituted with the territory of the current Republic of Panama, the north of the current department ofChocó, and the Costa Rican southern Pacific (fromPunta Burica to theGolfo Dulce). In 1824, by means of the Law of Territorial Division of the Republic of Colombia [es], the department was subdivided into provinces. According to the laws of Gran Colombia, the civil government of the department was headed by an intendant and the military authority was represented by the General Commander of the department.
According to the provisions of the Law of Division of Colombia of June 25, 1824, the department consisted of two provinces and 10 cantons:
Outside of these provinces, it also notionally included coastal territories farther northward along the Caribbean shoreline of present-dayCosta Rica andNicaragua. Control over this part of theMosquito Coast was disputed with the British and theFederal Republic of Central America.[citation needed]
