The Isthmus of Panama historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of the Panama Canal. Like many isthmuses, it is a location of great strategic value; the isthmus formed around 2.8 million years ago, separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and causing the creation of the Gulf Stream. This was first suggested in 1910 by North American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn, he based the proposal on the fossil record of mammals in Central America. This conclusion provided a foundation for Alfred Wegener when he proposed the theory of continental drift in 1912. Vasco Núñez de Balboa heard of the South Sea from natives while sailing along the Caribbean coast. On 25 September 1513 he saw the Pacific. In 1519 the town of Panamá was founded near a small indigenous settlement on the Pacific coast. After the discovery of Peru, it developed into an important port of trade and became an administrative centre.

In 1671 the Welsh pirate Henry Morgan crossed the Isthmus of Panamá from the Caribbean side and destroyed the city. The town was relocated some kilometers to the west at a small peninsula; the ruins of the old town, Panamá Viejo, are preserved and were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Silver and gold from the viceroyalty of Peru were transported overland across the isthmus by Spanish Silver Train to Porto Bello, where Spanish treasure fleets shipped them to Seville and Cádiz from 1707. Lionel Wafer spent four years between 1684 among the Cuna Indians. Scotland tried to establish a settlement in 1698 through the Darien scheme; the California Gold Rush, starting in 1849, brought a large increase in the transportation of people from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Steamships brought gold diggers from eastern US ports, who trekked across the isthmus by foot and rail. On the Pacific side, they boarded. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the man behind the Suez Canal, started a Panama Canal Company in 1880 that went bankrupt in 1889 in the Panama scandals.

In 1902–4, the United States forced Colombia to grant independence to the Department of the Isthmus, bought the remaining assets of the Panama Canal Company, finished the canal in 1914. A significant body of water once separated the continents of North and South America, allowing the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans to mix freely. Beneath the surface, two plates of the Earth's crust were colliding, forcing the Cocos Plate to slide under the Caribbean Plate; the pressure and heat caused by this collision led to the formation of underwater volcanoes, some of which grew large enough to form islands. Meanwhile, movement of the two tectonic plates was pushing up the sea floor forcing some areas above sea level. Over time, massive amounts of sediment from North and South America filled the gaps between the newly forming islands. Over millions of years, the sediment deposits added to the islands until the gap was filled. By no than 4.5 million years ago, an isthmus had formed between North and South America.

However, an article in Science Magazine stated that zircon crystals in middle Miocene bedrock from northern Colombia indicated that by 10 million years ago, it is that instead of islands, a full isthmus between the North and South American continents had likely formed where the Central American Seaway had been previously. Evidence suggests that the creation of this land mass and the subsequent warm, wet weather over northern Europe resulted in the formation of a large Arctic ice cap and contributed to the current ice age; that warm currents can lead to glacier formation may seem counterintuitive, but heated air flowing over the warm Gulf Stream can hold more moisture. The result is increased precipitation; the formation of the Isthmus of Panama played a major role in biodiversity on the planet. The bridge made it easier for plants to migrate between the two continents; this event is known in paleontology as the Great American Interchange. For instance, in North America, the opossum and porcupine all trace back to ancestors that came across the land bridge from South America.

Bears, dogs, horses and raccoons all made the trek south across the isthmus. As the connecting bridge between two vast land masses, the Panamanian biosphere is filled with overlapping fauna and flora from both North and South America. There are, over 978 species of birds in the isthmus area; the tropical climate encourages a myriad of large and brightly colored species, amphibians, birds and reptiles. Divided along its length by a mountain range, the isthmus's weather is wet on the Atlantic side but has a clearer division into wet and dry seasons on the Pacific side. Darien Gap Isthmo-Colombian area Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone

Comin' Your Way is an album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine recorded for the Blue Note label and performed by Turrentine with his brother Tommy Turrentine, Horace Parlan, George Tucker and Al Harewood. Selections from this album had been issued, with additional tracks appeared as Jubilee Shout!!!, as Jubilee Shouts. The Allmusic review by Ron Wynn awarded the album 4 stars and calls it "a sumptuous'60s soul-jazz date". "My Girl Is Just Enough Woman for Me" - 6:45 "Then I'll Be Tired of You" - 6:09 "Fine L'il Lass" - 6:14 "Fine L'il Lass" - 5:52 Bonus track on CD "Thomasville" - 6:36 "Someone to Watch Over Me" - 7:45 "Stolen Sweets" - 6:12 "Just in Time" - 6:30 Bonus track on CD Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone Tommy Turrentine - trumpet - except track 6 Horace Parlan - piano George Tucker - bass Al Harewood - drums Alfred Lion - producer Reid Miles - design Rudy Van Gelder - engineer Francis Wolff - photography

The International Astrostatistics Association is a non-profit professional organization for astrostatisticians. Astrostatistics as a discipline is composed of astrophysicists and those in computer information sciences who have an interest in the statistical analysis and data mining of astronomical data; the Association was founded as an independent organization in August 2012 by the Astrostatistics Committee and Network of the International Statistical Institute. The foremost objective of the IAA is to foster collaboration between statisticians and astrophysicists; the Association is managed by the IAA Council, composed of representatives from the ISI Astrostatistics Committee and the Astrostatistics Working Groups of the International Astronomical Union and American Astronomical Society. The IAA has its convention in association with the biannual ISI World Statistics Congress. In April 2014, an independent group was created with the support of the IAA, the Cosmostatistics Initiative, chaired by Dr. Rafael S. de Souza.

COIN is a worldwide endeavor aimed to create an interdisciplinary community around data-driven problems in Astronomy. It was designed to promote innovation in all aspects of academic scientific research. IAA Presidents and terms 2012–2017 Joseph Hilbe 2018–present Jogesh Babu IAA homepage IAA Overview ISI committees Astrostatistics and Astroinformatics Portal: IAA home page COIN: Cosmostatistics Initiative