Panama is well-known as the home of the Panama Canal, which the U.S. controlled until 1999.  The Canal is a marvelous attraction, but Panama has many other wonders to show visitors. The Kuna Indians live on 40 of nearly 400 small islands that form an archipelago on the Caribbean side of Panama. An estimated 40,000 people live on these islands, which look like cartoon tropical islands complete with sand, surf, and palm trees. Panama has what seems like unlimited biodiversity. More than 10,000 species of plants flourish there with 1,500 of the species found nowhere else on earth.