Panama Genealogy

Guide to Panama ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records

Country Information
Panama is a country in Central America bordered by Costa Rica and Colombia. Panama is an isthmus that connects North and South America and is also considered a Caribbean nation. Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered the Pacific ocean off the coast of Panama in 1513. Its strategic geographical location has made it a center of commerce and transportation since Spanish colonial times. After its independence from Spain in 1821, Panama became a department of Colombia until 1903 when the United States began building the Panama Canal and created the Panama Canal Zone, a major navigation hub. The official language is Spanish.

Getting Started


Provinces
Panama is divided into ten provinces and five indigenous regions.

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * Historical Records
 * Family History Center locator map

Research Tutorials

 * Search page
 * Introduction to Hispanic Research
 * U.S. Hispanic Immigration
 * U.S. Hispanic Immigrants: Finding their Place of Origin
 * Improve your Search Results in FamilySearch Hispanic Records
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records:
 * Lesson 1: The Spanish Alphabet
 * Lesson 2: Words and Dates
 * Lesson 3: Reading Spanish Records
 * Hispanic Online Resources