Panama had a rich Pre-Colombian heritage of native populations whose presence stretched back over 12,000 years. The earliest traces of these indigenous peoples include fluted projectile points. Central Panama was home to some of the first pottery-making villages in the Americas, such as the Monagrillo culture dating to about 2500-1700 BC. These evolved into significant populations that are best known through the spectacular burials of the Conte site (dating to c. AD 500-900) and the beautiful polychrome pottery of the Coclé style. At the time of European conquest, the indigenous population of the isthmus was said to be between one and two million people.
In 1501, Rodrigo de Bastidas from Seville, who had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas, sailed westward from the Atlantic side of present day Colombia in an attempt to reconnoiter the coastline of the Caribbean basin. Though the poor condition of his ships forced him to turn back and return to Santo Domingo to effect repairs, de Bastidas would reach La Punta de Manzanillo on Panama's upper Caribbean coast before having to abandon his effort. He is acknowledged to be the first European to have claimed that part of the isthmus, which includes the famous San Blas region of the Kuna indians. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Panama was widely settled by Chibchan, Chocoan, and Cueva peoples, among whom the largest group were the Cueva (whose specific language affiliation is poorly documented). A year after de Bastidas's arrival to Panama and on his fourth trip to the Americas, Christopher Columbus would sail south to the isthmus from the northern, present day Central American states of Honduras and Costa Rica. Columbus produced hand drawn maps of Panama's coastline and unlike de Bastidas explored Panama's western territories. He landed at a place that is today called Almirante and proceeded along the coast to a part of the territory he would name Veragua meaning 'to see water'. He continued his coastal journey up to the Chagres River, taking refuge in a natural bay he christened Portobelo (Beautiful Port). This site would become a key port for colonial Spain in 1597 replacing Nombre de Dios which had burned and had proven to be vulnerable to attack. Columbus ended his explorations at Del Retrete having spent just shy of two months in what would be Panama.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who had been aboard de Bastidas's ship in 1501, made a hard-fought and tortuous trek from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1513 and was able to verify what indigenous people had reported; that the isthmus had another coast and that there was another ocean. Balboa would call it the South Sea though it was later renamed the Pacific.
A recurring theme in Panama's history has been the relation of the isthmus to the emergence of a world economy. Balboa's verification that there was another ocean that could be reached by crossing the isthmus helped encourage Panama's use by colonial Spain as a crossroads and marketplace for seized Peruvian treasures, Spanish goods, contraband (goods and trade not approved by the Spanish crown) supplies, people, conscripted and enslaved labor, all of which were distributed throughout the Spanish colonial territories. The success of the Spanish was in stark contrast to the devastation of indigenous peoples. By the late 17th century, Cueva culture had all but disappeared. Mining techniques included the looting of Indian cemeteries for the pre-Colombian gold treasures they contained. Gold and silver were brought by ship from South America, hauled across the isthmus, and loaded aboard ships for Spain. The route became known as the Camino Real, or Royal Road, although was more commonly known as Camino de Cruces (Road of the Crosses) because of the frequency of gravesites along the way.
Panama was the site of the ill-fated, Darién scheme, which set up a Scottish trading colony in the region in 1698. This failed for a number of reasons, and the resulting economic depression and financial loss incurred played a significant part in influencing the union of Scotland with England in 1707.
Panama was part of the Spanish Empire for 300 years (1538-1821) and Panamanian fortunes fluctuated with the geopolitical importance of the isthmus to the Spanish crown. Panama's importance would wane significantly towards the end of the 17th century and fade almost altogether by the middle of the 18th as Spanish influence and power in Europe decreased and as Spanish ships began to increasingly go round Cape Horn to reach the Atlantic. While the Panama route was short it was also labor intensive and expensive because of the loading and unloading and laden-down trek required to get from the one coast to the other. The Panama route was also vulnerable to attack from pirates (mostly Dutch and English) and from 'new world' Africans called cimarrons who had freed themselves from enslavement and lived in communes or palenques around the Camino Real, in Panama's Interior and on some of the islands off Panama's Pacific coast. |
