Though the preparations for the revolt could not be concealed, the Bogota government took no effective measures to forestall it. Warned that trouble was impending, the United States sent ships to prevent fighting that might interfere with transit. The new republic was proclaimed at Panama on the 3rd of November, 1903. The Colombian authorities made no resistance; the garrison surrendered without firing a shot; and the entire population acquiesced in the appointment of a provisional government, pending the calling of a convention and the adoption of a Constitution. A small force of Colombians had been landed at Colon, but the revolution at Panama found it still on the Atlantic side. On November 4th the American naval commander refused to give these troops permission to use the railroad for warlike purposes. Because the vital portion of the new republic is virtually neutral under the treaty of 1846, the provisional government having established itself in peaceable possession was safe from external attack. The useless Colombian troops at Colon either joined the people of Panama or retired. The inhabitants of Colon and the outlying districts immediately sent in their adherence, and the peace of the whole Isthmian region remained unbroken. On the 13th of November the United States recognised the new republic, being followed by France on the 18th, and then by all other nations as soon as diplomatic formalities could be complied with. Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero was elected first president of the Republic of Panama, being inaugurated on February 19, 1904. A treaty with the United States for the building of the canal was framed on substantially the same lines as the one which had been negotiated with Colombia. By the end of February it had been ratified and proclaimed, and the United States at once made preparations for the beginning of the work. [Illustration: MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA] INDEX A Abascal, General, Viceroy of Peru, 73-78, 163, 168, 260 Abibe Mountains, 408 Acha, General, 276 Aconcagua River, the, 223; plain of, 168 Acosta, Juan, 56 Acosta, President of Colombia, 464, 465 Acre River, the, 280 "Adelantados," 26, 349, 414, 417 Agua Dulce, battle of, 484, 485 Alansi, valley of, 291 Alacantra, Francisco, 26, 46 Alfaro, President of Ecuador, 339, 341 Alfinger, Adelantado of Venezuela, 349 Almagro, partner of Pizarro, 23, 24, 27, 32, 36, 136, 239, 298; at war with Pizarro, 41-43, 239, 301; execution of, 43, 44, 136, 239 Almagro the younger, 49, 50 Alonso, President of Bolivia, 281 Alpaca, the, 3, 4 Alvarado, Spanish adventurer, 44, 88; Governor of Guatemala, 298 Amar, Viceroy of Bogota, 430 Amat, Don Manuel, 154, 155 Amazon River, the, discovery of, 44, 114, 279, 293 Amazon, forested plains of, 4, 5, 40, 67, 303, 351, 424 Andagoya, Pascual de, 22 Andean plateau, the, 3, 235, 285, 288, 302, 312, 335, 342 Andean valleys, 10; gold in, 349, 354