The population of Yaviza as of 1990 was 8,452, falling to 3,317 as recorded in the year 2000, and rising to 4,441 as of 2010.[1]
History
The town was founded by Spanish missionaries as San Jerónimo de Yaviza in September 1638.[3] A Spanish fort (Fuerte de San Geronimo de Yaviza) was built in 1760, and heavily damaged by an attack of the Indigenous Guna in 1780.[4] A flood destroyed half of the remaining ruins in the mid-20th century.[5]
Map of the Darién Gap and the break in the Pan-American Highway between Yaviza, Panama and Turbo, Colombia
As the Pan-American Highway was constructed, it eventually reached Yaviza as a dirt road. But plans to complete the road to Colombia were stopped, leaving Yaviza as the end point of the northern half of the highway.[6] The final sections of the highway to Yaviza have since been improved and are now paved.[7]
References
^ a b c d"Cuadro 11 (Superficie, población y densidad de población en la República...)" [Table 11 (Area, population, and population density in the Republic...)] (.xls). In "Resultados Finales Básicos" [Basic Final Results] (in Spanish). National Institute of Statistics and Census of Panama. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
^Leonard, Thomas M. Historical Dictionary of Panama, p. xxxv (2015)
^Rutkow, Eric. The Longest Line on the Map, p. 322 (2019)
^Lonely Planet Panama, p. 427 (2022)
^Jimenez, Raul E. (6 August 2018) Darién, primera y última frontera, La Prensa (in Spanish)
^Johnson, Tim (25 October 1992). Panama revives dream of completing highway that would link the Americas, Monitor (McAllen, Texas; Knight Ridder content) ("Engineers slashed the highway -- really just a dirt track barely passable in the rainy season -- through to Yaviza in 1983.")
^Howe, Ben Ryder (March 2001). The Forgotten Highway, The Atlantic ("The government, under pressure from the peasants, has announced that it will begin paving the road to Yaviza.")