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The Geographical Review July 1996, 86(3), pp. 317-333. Jungle Stories: North American Representations of Tropical Panama Stephen Frenkel ABSTRACT: As the American tropics came under the influence of the United States during the nineteenth century, policymakers, businesspeople, 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. Keywords: imperialism, Panama, Panama Canal Zone, representation, tropics. DR. FRENKEL is a professor of geography at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98198-3550. To contact the author: Prof. Stephen Frenkel Department of Geography Box 353550 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-3550 Phone: (206) 543-3313 fax Email: frenkel@u.washington.edu