The Discovery

The tiny, yet exciting country of Panamá was discovered by Spanish Explorers about nine years after North America. Christopher Columbus discovered the West Indies in 1492 and by 1501 was still discovering and exploring new lands for the King and Queen of Spain. The actual first sighting of Panama was made by Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1501. However, it was that same Christopher Columbus who was the first white man to set foot on the Isthmus the following year, 1502. Columbus' attempt at colonization in Panamá was quite unsuccessful; so much so that it was another 8 years before any new attempt was made.

The Isthmus in the early 1500s was a difficult environment for Europeans in which to get a foothold. First and foremost in discouraging white settlers were the Indians. The many well-organized tribes were quite aggressive and had no qualms about eliminating those settlers who didn't succumb to disease or hunger. The settlers were from a European culture that didn't teach its members how to adapt to new environments. The Europeans brought new diseases with them but were decimated by the diseases they then found on the Isthmus. Yellow Fever and Dengue were two of the main culprits here. The climate was (and still is) very hot and humid and the jungle was all but impassable for those not schooled in its exploration. It was almost impossible to establish the agricultural culture that Europeans were used to as there wasn't clear land available for farming. Too, clearing land while being constantly harassed and killed by the Indians was a daunting task as you might imagine. So the first settlers had a tendency to simply wait for the next supply ship instead of becoming self sustaining. New colonies dwindled in numbers so rapidly that returning supply ships found almost nobody left upon return.

The Settlement

In 1510 Spanish explorer Diego de Nicuesa tried to achieve what Columbus hadn't been able to. He too, was driven out of Belén by lack of food and aggressive Indians. He desperately sailed his small fleet and 280 starving men east along the Caribbean side of the Isthmus, sighting at last a protected bay a few miles east of Portobelo. His exclamation, "Paremos aqui, en nombre de Diós!" (Let us stop here, in the name of God!). That's what I like to say when I see incredible things. That became the name of one of the first Spanish settlements, Nombre de Diós, on the Caribbean side of Panamá. Through this settlement passed all the gold originating in Peru destined for Portobelo and Nombre de Dios, where it was subsequently loaded up on ships headed for Spain.

Vasco Nuńez de Balboa (1475-1519)  sailed with Bastidas to Panamá in 1510 and eventually served as co-Mayor of the Spanish settlement near Nombre de Diós, Antigua del Darién (Antigua). Balboa was an adept administrator and insisted that the settlers plant crops rather than depend solely on supply ships as they had always done previously. Under Balboa's leadership, Antigua became a very prosperous settlement. While Balboa did lead raids on surrounding Indian encampments, he subsequently befriended the conquered the tribes. In fact, the daughter of one of the chiefs became his lifelong mistress.

In September 1513, Balboa, hearing consistent tales from the Indians about the large ocean to the south, formed a party of 190 Spaniards, including his friend Francisco Pizarro, in addition to a pack of dogs and 1000 Indian slaves. Following twenty five days of forced march through the incredibly dense jungle, Balboa and his party looked out with amazement on the enormous expanse of the Pacific Ocean. He claimed the ocean and all the shores which it touched for his God and his King. What a nice thing to be able to do right? Just claim a gorgeous coast for you and your God or whatever...

In 1519 Pedro Arias de Ávila or Pedrarias the Cruel decided to move his center of operations from Antigua near Nombre de Diós with its difficult climate and unfriendly Indians, to a site on the Pacific Ocean, east of the present day city of Panamá. This was the first European settlement on the west coast in the hemisphere and became a hub for commercial activity providing the perfect location from which to conquer Perú with its wealth of gold and silver.

Portions of the streets and avenues of the architectural complex of Panamá La Vieja can still be seen today. Among these are: the street named La Carreta - known today as Vía Cincuentenario (the continuation of 50 th Street), La Calle Empedrada (running perpendicular to La Carrera), La Calle del Obispo, La Calle de La Pontezuela, and Los Calafates.

Architectural remains of a time long gone are seen in the royal lodging facilities called Las Casas Reales which serviced important members of the Spanish crown and the La Casa de los Genoveses the principal location where slaves known as colonial Negroes were sold at auction. La Casa Cabildo or Contaduría (the Accounting House) was the funneling channel through which all riches coming from California's Gold Rush and the lnca Empire passed on its way to Spain. It was also here where all taxes were paid.

This city functioned up until January 21, 1671, when it was attacked and looted by the English pirate Henry Morgan. But before further, La Panamá Vieja had to suffer more.

By the early 1520s, Panamá Antigua was firmly established on the Pacific Ocean east of the present City of Panamá. Nombre de Diós was a flourishing settlement almost due north of Panamá Antigua on the Caribbean coast. Balboa, after his highly successful efforts in the establishment of Nombre de Diós, and due to jealousy and intrigues on the part of his friend Pizarro, had been beheaded by Pedro Arias de Ávila. Go figure! Both settlements were on the way to being self sustaining and the Indians had been subdued in both locations; at least to the point that Spanish settlers weren't undergoing the constant harassing of ten years prior. Perú hadn't been conquered, but those plans were well underway under the leadership of Francisco Pizarro (1475-1541).

On March 11, 1526 the two warriors Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro, both past their prime and over the age of fifty, formed one of their contracts with Father Hernando de Luque in the sanctuary of the Metropolitan Church in Panamá Antigua, the ruins of which can still be seen today. Pizarro and Almagro were to lead an expedition to Perú and Father Luque was to provide the financing from his large financial resources. Balboa had originally conceived the idea of a conquest of Perú through the information gathered from his contacts (the Panamá Indians telling of a vast, rich empire in South America where gold was scattered everywhere).

Balboa had even sent the building materials for two ships on the shoulders of natives to be built on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The ships would be called the "San Cristobal" and the "Santa Maria de la Buena Esperanza", a bit longer and harder to write than, say, the Nina or the Pinta. It was Balboa's envious friend and partner, Pizarro, who schemed with Pedrarias Dávila and delivered him to the executioner. Pizarro then assumed control of the project and carried it out himself with expeditions in 1524, 1526 and 1531, resulting in the conquest of Perú and a 150 year plunder of the natural resources found there. The shipment of these spoils to Spain was the primary reason for the importance of Panamá Antigua, Nombre de Diós and Portobelo. The narrow width of the Isthmus allowed a crossing from the Pacific to the Caribbean to meet the yearly armada from Spain, saving a long, long passage around the treacherous tip of South America, Cape Horn.

Once the capture of Perú was complete, shipments of gold to Spain began in earnest. The spoils were sent by vessel from Perú up the Pacific Coast to Panamá Antigua. The Spaniards built a seven foot wide trail from Panamá Antigua to Nombre de Diós called El Camino Real. Usually, gold was stored in Panamá Antigua and sent by mule train, 150 to 200 at a time when the armada arrived in Nombre de Diós. The enormous wealth in each of these shipments attracted pirates and buccaneers from several countries, but especially England. One of the first of these was Sir Francis Drake (1540 - 1597), English gentleman and buccaneer. Drake was instrumental in a great many of the assaults on the Isthmus between 1572 and his death in 1597.

Actually, Drake was the first pirate to attack the fortress at Nombre de Diós. This attack was unsuccessful because Drake was wounded and his men withdrew. However, he subsequently led his men against a gold laden mule train between Panamá Antigua and Nombre de Diós. Their first attempt was unsuccessful, but with a better plan and never ending optimism they were successful in capturing much gold. Drake returned to England a very wealthy man as a result of the reward from Queen Elizabeth I; although for a while the Queen wouldn't make his successes public for fear of an adverse reaction from the Spanish King. A short time later, Drake came back to Panamá, attacked Nombre de Diós and totally plundered, burned and destroyed it. On Drake's last trip to the Caribbean again in search of Spanish plunder in 1597 a lot of his crew became sick with dysentery and many died. Drake himself became seriously ill, possibly with dysentery or yellow fever and died at sea. He was buried in a lead coffin in Portobelo Bay.

Drake's destruction of Nombre de Diós in about 1596 was the impetus behind the relocation of the northern terminus of El Camino Real from Nombre de Diós to Portobelo in 1597. Portobelo, with its beautiful harbor, was easily fortified and gave easy access to the Caribbean and to the interior of Panamá over El Camino Real to Panamá Antigua. Several forts were built including Fort San Geronimo on the south side of Portobelo Bay, another on the northern boundary of the Bay and a heavily fortified, expertly manned installation named Fort San Lorenzo on the mouth of the Chagres River. These proved to be suitable protection for the yearly shipments of Perúvian riches until the third part of the 17th century when "the Terror of the Sea", Welsh buccaneer and son of Monmouthshire, Henry Morgan (around 1635-1688), sailed against Portobelo.

Drake had destroyed Nombre de Diós and caused its relocation to Portobelo in 1597. Many unsuccessful attacks by English privateers on the strong fort near Portobelo called Fort San Geronimo caused the Spanish to feel that it was able to withstand such aggression. Henry Morgan, a particularly reckless and ruthless buccaneer attacked the fort at Portobelo sometime in 1669, killing the governor and carrying away all the gold and other treasurers.
Morgan and his crew occupied the city for fifteen days before sailing away vowing to return in a year to take Panamá Antigua. The Spaniards abandoned Fort San Geronimo at Portobelo and moved their headquarters to San Lorenzo at the mouth of the Chagres River. The Fort was strengthened, heavily fortified and manned to protect the treasure from South America while awaiting the fleet from Spain to transport it to the King. Morgan, true to his word, arrived back at the Isthmus in December 1670 and attacked Fort San Lorenzo. Of the four hundred Spaniards guarding the Fort, only thirty remained after the attack and ten of those were wounded. Morgan was so emboldened by his total success over Fort San Lorenzo that he decided to pursue his original goal, Panamá Antigua.

To that end, he sailed as far up the Chagres as he could go and began the trek through the jungle to Panamá on January 18, 1671 with 1,200 pirates of many different nationalities. The march was barely successful due to the great hunger of the men. No provisions were available along the line of march through the jungle due to the scorched earth policy of the Spaniards. Everything edible was either removed or burned before the pirates arrived. Therefore, it was a starving, bloodthirsty, desperate band of men who swept down on Panamá Antigua on January 29, 1671. The success of their attack was almost assured and even though the residents of the City set fire to any building that would burn, Morgan's men left after four weeks with 175 mules loaded with plunder. Just before Morgan's attack the heavily populated city of twelve thousand buildings, included cathedrals, monasteries, the Viceroy's Palace, two hundred palatial residences, hospital, stable and slave market. After the attack the city lay in total ruin.

Iglesia de San José and its now famous Altar de Oro (Golden Alter) is the only thing of value salvaged after Henry Morgan sacked Panamá in 1671. When word came of the pirate’s impending attack, according to the local tales, a priest painted the altar black to disguise it. The priest told Morgan that the famous altar had been stolen by another pirate and even convinced Morgan to donate handsomely for its replacement. Morgan is said to have told the priest, “I don’t know why, but I think you are more of a pirate than I am”. Regardless of the accuracy of this story, the baroque-style altar, made of carved mahogany painted and veneered with gold, escaped the pirates’ attention and was eventually moved to its present site.

Henry Morgan retraced his steps and sailed away to England with sufficient spoils to become a hero. He was knighted and ended his days as His Britannic Majesty's Governor of Jamaica honorably serving his King.

The Final Days

In 1739 the final destruction of Portobelo was accomplished by British Admiral Edward Vernon. Spain was forced to give up the Isthmus crossing and sail around Cape Horn to the western coast of South America. Panamá declined in importance becoming part of the viceroyalty of Nueva Andalucia, later called Colombia. Colombia (and therefore, Panamá) was granted its independence from Spain in 1821 and at that time included Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Venezuela. Panamá remained part of Colombia until 1903 when, with the help of the United States, Panamá declared its independence. Colombia had refused to allow the transfer of the canal treaty to the U.S. from France and the die was cast!

But for reading about the years following the Independence and into its current days, continue to the "Casco Antiguo"- link and 'About Casco Antiguo"- page on this website.