Chiriquí () is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

located on the western coast; it is the second most developed province in the country, after Panamá Province. Its capital is the city of

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

. It has a total area of 6,490.9 km², with a population of 471,071 as of the year 2023. The province of Chiriquí is bordered to the north by the province of Bocas del Toro, to the west by

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, to the east by the province of Veraguas, and to the south by the Pacific Ocean, specifically the Gulf of Chiriquí.

History

Until the arrival of the Spanish ''

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

es'', Chiriquí was populated by a number of indigenous tribes, known collectively as the Guaymí people. The first European to visit and describe Chiriquí was Gaspar de Espinosa, in 1519. The province was officially established on 26 May 1849, when Panama was still part of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Several years later, President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

of the United States proposed Chiriquí as a favored location for Linconia, a colony for free blacks from the United States. Only 349 accepted the offer. Most blacks were not interested. Chiriquí was the province in which Manuel Noriega rose in the military ranks in the late 20th century; he helped bring

Omar Torrijos Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981) was the Panamanian military leader of Panama, as well as the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard from 1968 to his death in 1981. Torrijos was never officially ...

back into the country after a coup d'état. Noriega had jeeps lined up with their lights on the runway in

to allow Torrijos's aircraft to land. Chiriqui was at the heart of a short-lived pro-democracy

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After the dictatorship by Manuel Noriega from 1983 to 1989,

Guillermo Endara Guillermo David Endara Galimany (May 12, 1936 – September 28, 2009) was a Panamanian politician who served as the president of Panama from 1989 to 1994. Raised in a family allied to Panameñista Party founder Arnulfo Arias, Endara attend ...

became president of Panama; he appointed Edgar De Puy as governor of Chiriquí.

Administrative divisions

As of the 2023 Census, Chiriquí Province is divided into 14 ''distritos'' (districts) and sub-divided into 105 '' corregimientos''. Note: Through Law 55 of 13 September 2013, the creation of Tierras Altas District had been approved, consisting of the ''corregimientos'' of Cerro Punta, Cuesta de Piedra, Nueva California, Paso Ancho and Volcán, which were split off from Bugaba District. The new district was to have Volcán as its main centre. Also through that same law, the ''corregimiento'' of Solano was created, after splitting off from the ''corregimiento'' of La Concepción, Bugaba. That new administrative division within Chiriquí Province was to come into effect by 2 May 2019.

Climate

The province features a variety of climates, from hot and humid

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of a ...

s to the cool and moist highlands. The district is home to Fortuna Forest Reserve.

References

External links

Knowing more about Chiriqui in My Panama Live

K. Holmberg 2010 'Placing Immateriality: Situating the Material of Highland Chiriquí', Internet Archaeology 28.

The Art of Precolumbian Gold: The Jan Mitchell Collection
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Chiriqui * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiriqui Province Provinces of Panama States and territories established in 1849 1849 establishments in the Republic of New Granada