Panama City

The city was founded on 15 August 1519, by Pedro Arias de Ávila, also known as Pedrarias Dávila. Within a few years of its founding, the city became a launching point for the exploration and conquest of Peru and a transit point for gold and silver headed back to Spain through the Isthmus. The Genoese-Italians and the Spanish encountered coconuts which had arrived from the Philippines before Spanish colonization. In 1520, Genoese merchants controlled the port and the commerce of the region, mainly for the slave trade, thanks to a concession given by the Spaniards, who had the Republic of Genoa as its main banking base. In 1671 Henry Morgan with a band of 1,400 men attacked and looted the city, which was subsequently destroyed by fire. The ruins of the old city still remain and are a popular tourist attraction known as Panamá Viejo (Old Panama). …

Panamá is between the Pacific Ocean and tropical rain forest in the northern part of Panama. The Parque Natural Metropolitano (Metropolitan Nature Park), stretching from Panama City along the Panama Canal, has unique bird species and other animals, such as tapir, puma, and caimans. At the Pacific entrance of the canal is the Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas (Marine Exhibitions Center), a research center for those interested in tropical marine life and ecology, managed by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Tropical forests around Panama are vital for the functioning of the Panama Canal, providing it with the water required for its operation. …

Panamá Viejo ("Old Panama") is the name used for the architectural vestiges of the Monumental Historic Complex of the first Spanish city founded on the Pacific coast of the Americas by Pedro Arias de Ávila on 15 August 1519. This city was the starting point for the expeditions that conquered the Inca Empire in Peru in 1532. It was a stopover point on one of the most important trade routes in the history of the American continent, leading to the famous fairs of Nombre de Dios and Portobelo, where most of the gold and silver that Spain took from the Americas passed through. Built and settled in 1671 after the destruction of Panama Viejo by the privateer Henry Morgan, the historic district of Panama City (known as Casco Viejo, Casco Antiguo or San Felipe) was conceived as a walled city to protect its settlers against future pirate attacks. …