Panama: Was the native name of a village on the Pacific Coast of the Gulf and Isthmus of Panama. Here, in 1519, Avila founded the oldest existing city in America. Panama is believed to be a Guarani word meaning a "butterfly," and also, according to Wullerstorf, signifying a "mudfish," perhaps because the flaps of the mudfish resemble the wings of a butterfly, From the town of Panama the name was extended to the Isthmus, the Gulf, and the Republic.

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