Jungle stories: North American representations of tropical Panama

As the American tropics came under the influence of the United States during the nineteenth century, policymakers, business people, and bureaucrats began to act directly on the region. Based on firsthand experience and on knowledge gained from published accounts, a picture of Central America, particularly Panama, began to take shape in the collective imagination. Eventually two general narratives-one positive, one negative-emerged. These contradictory narratives were used to legitimate imperialist intervention and actions in the Panama Canal Zone in the early twentieth century.