Baháʼí Faith in Panama
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The history of the Baháʼí Faith in Panama begins with a mention by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the Baháʼí Faith, in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan, published in 1919; the same year, Martha Root made a trip around South America and included Panama on the return leg of the trip up the west coast.[1] The first pioneers began to settle in Panama in 1940.[2] The first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly of Panama, in Panama City, was elected in 1946,[3] and the National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1961.[4] The Baháʼís of Panama raised a Baháʼí House of Worship in 1972.[5] In 1983 and again in 1992, some commemorative stamps were produced in Panama[6][7] while the community turned its interests to the San Miguelito and Chiriquí regions of Panama with schools and a radio station.[8] The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated there were some 41,000 Baháʼís in 2005[9] while another source places it closer to 60,000.[10]