Ancient History Archives – THE PAGE TURNS

April 19, 2026April 19, 2026

P is for Panama

The country of Panama, on the isthmus situated between Costa Rica and Colombia.

Fast Facts

Named for: Possibly “butterflies” or “bannaba”=distant place or “place of many fish,” both in indigenous tongue.
Capital: Panama City
Long/Lat: 8.6 N/79.3 W, only 6 hours or 3000 miles SE of Castro Valley. Very close to the equator.
Population: 4.3 million, 65 Castro Valleys
Size: 29,000 sq mi, or 1600 Castro Valleys
Avg temp in April: 90 F/32 C (humidity 85%/ CV usually around 70%)
Median household income: $7,800
Ethnicity: 65% mestizo (mixed), 12% indigenous, 10% Black, 7% white.
Main industries: Trade, commerce, shrimp, copper, hydropower

Sometimes there is serendipity; the stars align. Things can be helped along by choice, but happy accidents may begin the process. Today is the day to write a post on “P” and today, as it happens, we are going through the Panama Canal. The A to Z challenge meets the travel blogs! Due to this exciting circumstance, I will write two posts. Today, I will cover the country of Panama in the same fashion as before, A through O. Tomorrow we will talk about the reason for the trip: going through the Canal.

The Most Ancient History of Panama

Today, let’s focus on early pre-Canal history. Really early, 200 million years ago: Pangaea.

If long-lived intelligent beings were to look through a telescope at this part of Earth, they might ask, Can’t they make up their minds? First, it’s all land, then it’s all sea, then land, then sea, then land… In other words: Pangaea, the Central American Seaway (CAS), the isthmus, the canal, then all the bridges. Humans want all the ways to go, sometimes through the water and sometimes on the roads.

April 15, 2026April 15, 2026

N is for North Macedonia

North Macedonia is a landlocked country in the Balkans, i.e., the old Kingdom of Macedonia. Graphic from Countryreports.org.

Fast Facts

Named for: Macedonia means “tall people” according to ancient Greeks
Capital: Skopje
Long/Lat: 42.0 N/21.2 E, 6500 mi & 13 hrs East of CV
Population: 1.8 million or 27 CVs, big for a “small” country
Size: 9800 sq mi, 540 CVs
Avg temp in April: 64 F/16 F, similar
Median household income: $7,000
Ethnicity: 55% Macedonian, 24% Albanian, 4% Turks
Main industries: Chemicals, Manufacturing. Embargoes and trade conflicts are common.

Sadly, there is no South Macedonia. Neither is there an East or West Macedonia, and when Macedonia gained independence in 1991 and tried to be the whole Macedonia, the Greeks blpcked them. It’s pretty ironic, since the Macedonians once conquered Greece, and the Greeks have never conquered Macedonia.

Those Greeks do act as if they run the show. They think they invented everything, and slap labels on things like the Pythagorean theorem (Pythagoras was great, but the Babylonians knew about the right-triangle relationships way before that) or the Metonic cycle (Babylonians again) and so on. Alexander the Great, the Macedonian emperor who spread “Greek” culture into the east, was tutored by a Greek, but he wasn’t Greek. Such a long time ago, who pays attention?

April 7, 2026April 9, 2026

G is for Georgia

Fast Facts

Named for: It’s a long story, but probably Greek, γεωργός Georg, tiller of land, from Gaia + ergos. Although it could be Persian, Gurj; or gurgan, land of the wolves. The Georgians call their country Sakartvelo (საქართველო; ‘land of Kartvelians’).
Capital: Tbilisi (თბილისი)
Long/Lat: 41.4 N/44.4 E , 6900 mi or 14 hours West of Castro Valley
Population: 3.7 million, 56x Castro Valleys
Size: 27,000 sq mi, 1588 CVs
Avg temp in April: 65 F/20 C (similar to CV)
Median household income: $8500 annual
Ethnicity: 87% Georgians, rest Armenian, Azerbaijani, others nearby
Main industries: Mining, transport, ancient wineries

The ancient region between the Black and Caspian Seas was called Colchis,

The ancient Greeks called it Colchis (Κολχίς) which was their version of what they thought people said, now Anglicized. They told a famous ancient story about a golden ram, whose pelt hung on a tree guarded by a dragon. The mythical explorer Jason sailed the Argo across the Black Sea and, after seducing the king’s daughter, took the golden fleece and daughter back home. Later, he cheated on her, and Medea was not pleased. She ended up poisoning the paramour and killing the children.