History:

Historical Overview: (A brief history of Panama) Part II

The increasing importance of the isthmus for transporting treasure and the delay and difficulties posed by the Camino Real inspired surveys ordered by the Spanish crown in the 1520s and 1530s to ascertain the feasibility of constructing a canal. The idea was finally abandoned in mid-century by King Philip II (1556- 98), who concluded that if God had wanted a canal there, He would have built one.

Panama's own contribution to the loading of the fleet was relatively small. Gold production was never great, and little exportable surplus of  agricultural and forest products was available. Nothing was manufactured; in fact, Spain discouraged the production of finished goods. The colony's prosperity, therefore, fluctuated with the volume of trade, made up largely of Peruvian shipments. When the Inca gold was exhausted, great quantities of silver mined in Peru replaced gold in trade for 150 years, supplemented eventually by sugar, cotton, wine, indigo, cinchona, vanilla, and cacao.

Panama City also flourished on the profits of trade. Following reconstruction after a serious fire in 1644, contemporary accounts credit Panama City with 1,400 residences "of all types" (probably including slave huts); most business places, religious houses, and substantial residences were rebuilt of stone. Panama City was considered, after Mexico City and Lima, the most beautiful and opulent settlement in the West Indies.

During the first quarter of the seventeenth century, trade between Spain and the isthmus remained undisturbed. At the same time, England, France, and the Netherlands, one or all almost constantly at war with Spain, began seizing colonies in the Caribbean. Such footholds in the West Indies encouraged the development of the buccaneers--English, French, Dutch, and Portuguese adventurers who preyed on Spanish shipping and ports with the tacit or open support of their governments. Because of their numbers and the closeness of their bases, the buccaneers were more effective against Spanish trade than the English had been during the previous century.

The volume of registered precious metal arriving in Spain fell from its peak in 1600; by 1660 volume was less than the amount registered a century before. Depletion of Peruvian mines, an increase in smuggling, and the buccaneers were causes of the decline.

Henry Morgan, had been sold into bondage in Barbados at an early age. His years of hardship had hardened and embittered him. Brooding in a tropical prison he matured in him imagination vast and daring plans to become a pirate -- a terror of the sea. These plans he carried out so successfully that he became one of the greatest characters in the history of sea robbers.

In 1668, after his release from prison, he went to Jamaica, the rendevous of pirates and buccaneers, and from that point he assembled his ships and four hundred and sixty men, "the scum of the seven seas, reckless and ruthles, hardened adventures, a motley crew," and sailing into the harbor of Porto Belo, made his famous and daring attack. The Spaniards, though taken by surprise, made a gallant defense, but they were no match for Morgan and his desperate men. The Governor was killed, all the gold and treasures taken, and for fifteen days Morgan and his companions occupied the city.

Morgan and his band of pirates sailed away, (with a promise to return within twelve months and visit Panama city) leaving behind death and destruction, taking with them every vestige of the coveted gold, and Porto Bello still stands, one of the most interesting ruins in the New World. The treasure house is empty, the banquet halls where men "gloried and drank deep" are deserted. The old Fort San Geronimo charged with a lofty mystery of stillness, rich only in romance now, where the wealth once stored was greater than Ophir's hoard.

In December 1670, Morgan returned to Panama waters and made the famous attack on Fort San Lorenzo. Of the four hundred Spainiards in the fort there were only thirty left and ten of them were wounded.

The ruins of the old fort guarding the Chagres and overlooking in the indefinite distance, the blue water of the Caribbean, rise up majestically from the crest of the steep rock cliff against which the turmoil of the waves beats unceasingly. the once powerful moated fortress, the dungeons and the castle are overgrown with the lament green of the jungle, but still vibrant with memories of a historic past.

His great success in accomplishing the fall of San Lorenzo served to stimulate Morgan, to further victories, and as Panama City was the real objective of the expedition, the conquerors began their march across the Isthmus.

Old Panama, that populous city containing before its destruction twelve thousand buildings, cathedrals with plate fillings of solid gold, eight monasteries, the Royal Palace of the Viceroy, two hundred palatial residences, the hospital, the King's stable and a slave market, lay in utter ruin. Two years later, a new city was founded at the location of the present-day capital and was heavily fortified.

Henry Morgan sailed away victorious, and with his spoils he became a hero. He was knighted and, as His Brittanic Majesty's Governor of Jamaica ended his days honorably in the service of his king.

The buccaneer scourge rapidly declined after 1688 mainly because of changing European alliances. By this time Spain was chronically bankrupt; its population had fallen; and it suffered internal government mismanagement and corruption.

[Previous: Historical Overview (part I)] [Next: Historical Overview (part III)]

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