PANAMÁ LA VIEJA - PANAMÁ VIEJO

The ruins of the first city founded on the Pacific illustrate an eventful history, which ended tragically with its destruction in 1671 by the corsair Henry Morgan.

Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Panamá was founded on August 15, 1519 by Pedrarías Dávila, less than six years after the discovery of the South Sea by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. Its name comes either from the numerous trees named after it (which are still found in the site), or from the indigenous term meaning "abundance of fish" or "butterflies". The site, with its swamps, mangroves and lack of drinking water, was not the best place to settle or to protect the city. Nevertheless, the settlers of Santa María la Antigua de Darién left their Atlantic town to settle on this coast, soon to be renamed Pacific, in order to make it the starting port to find the route to the Orient and its spice islands. After a few years, Francisco Pizzaro discovered the riches of the Inca Empire and Panamá became a transit city for gold, silver, pearls and precious stones bound for Nombre de Dios (then Portobelo at the end of the 16th century) via the Camino Real (then the Camino de Cruces), to then cross the seas to Spain.

The city became a commercial, ecclesiastical and political center of first order in the colonial system. After an earthquake in 1621 and a serious fire in 1644, the worst was to come. The population was about 8,000 when Morgan, leading 1,200 men, attacked Panamá on January 28, 1671. They took the city by surprise after destroying the fort of San Lorenzo, going up the Río Chagres and then taking the Camino de Cruces. The poorly organized defense hardly resisted, but the powder magazine was blown up to prevent looting. Only the suburbs and the convents of La Merced and San José were spared. Morgan stayed for a month before leaving the city, which had been set on fire, taking with him the treasures and prisoners he could.

The survivors suffered famine and epidemics for two years, before the new city was built 8 km away. What was left of the buildings was taken away stone by stone to "Panamá La Nueva". Fortunately, Panamá La Vieja, overtaken by the modern city in the 1950s, was preserved and declared a historical monument by the Panamanian government in 1976 and included in the Unesco World Heritage List in 2003.