a number of sports competitions which take place every four years in which the countries of South, Central, and North America take part. Quadrennial sports festival. The games, conceived in 1940 as an event for the nations of the Western Hemisphere, were first held in 1951. Patterned after the Olympic Games and sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, the games are conducted by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), or Organización Deportiva Panamericana (ODEPA), headquartered in Mexico City. All major international sports and several more specialized events are included in the regular program. They are held the year preceding the Olympics, in various host cities
Quadrennial sports festival. The games, conceived in 1940 as an event for the nations of the Western Hemisphere, were first held in 1951. Patterned after the Olympic Games and sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, the games are conducted by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), or Organización Deportiva Panamericana (ODEPA), headquartered in Mexico City. All major international sports and several more specialized events are included in the regular program. They are held the year preceding the Olympics, in various host cities
Covering or representing all of the Americas (both North America and South America), particularly with respect to events involving representatives of most or all countries in the Americas
known as Pan Am Former U.S. airline. It was founded in 1927 by former World War I pilot Juan Trippe, who secured a contract to fly mail between Key West, Fla., and Havana. In 1929 Pan Am established passenger service to the Caribbean and Central America. It inaugurated the first transpacific flights (San Francisco to Manila) in 1936, the first transatlantic flights (New York City to Lisbon) in 1939, and the first round-the-world flights in 1947, and it pioneered commercial jet travel in the 1950s. Its business declined in the 1960s and '70s, and its acquisition of National Airlines in 1980 failed to improve its position. In 1988 a bomb planted aboard a Pan Am 747 caused the airliner to crash near Lockerbie, Scot., killing 270 people. Despite selling its Asian and South Pacific routes to United Airlines and its transatlantic, European, and Middle Eastern routes to Delta Air Lines, it was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1991. In the late 1990s another group bought the rights to the Pan Am name and began operating flights as Pan American Airways
A system of roadways, about 25,744 km (16,000 mi) long, extending from Alaska to Chile and linking the nations of the Western Hemisphere. the Pan-American Highway a road that goes all the way from Canada to Argentina, connecting North, Central, and South America. It is about 25,000 kilometres/16,000 miles long. International highway system connecting North and South America. Conceived in 1923 as a single route, the road grew to include a number of designated highways in participating countries, including the Inter-American Highway from Nuevo Laredo, Mex., to Panama City, Pan. The whole system, extending from Alaska and Canada to Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, totals nearly 30,000 mi (48,000 km). Only some 240 miles (400 km) in the Panama-Colombia border area remain uncompleted
Organization formed in 1890 to promote cooperation among the countries of Latin America and the U.S. It was established (as the International Union of American Republics) at the first Pan-American conference, which was called by U.S. secretary of state James Blaine in order to reach agreements on various common commercial and juridical problems among the countries of the Americas. In 1948 it was reconstituted as the Organization of American States