THE REPUBLIC 0¥ PANAMA. « 



By Prof. Wm. II. Burr, 

 Of till' Isthmian Canal Commissio7i. 



The 3'ouno-est of the American i-epublics has ahiiost the oldest history. 

 The Caribl)can coast hne of Cok)iiibia and of Panama was one of the 

 earliest localities visited by the old Spanish navigators. One of them, 

 Alonzo de Ojeda, visited a number of places along- this coast in 1499 

 and 1501, while Columbus visited Porto Bello, 25 miles northeast of 

 Colon, and other places in 1502, during his last A^oyage. From those 

 dates onward all this portion of the Spanish main was constantly visited, 

 explored, and apportioned among Spanish officials. ]\lany expeditions 

 of discover}' w^ere made inland, until all that north westerlv portion of 

 South America which has so long been known as Venezuela. Colombia, 

 and Ecuador was complete!}' explored and a fair knowledge of its 

 resources, mineral and otherwise, obtained. 



One of the most important incidents in these exploring expeditions 

 occurred when Vasco Nunez de Balboa, governor of the province in 

 Darien, first set out southward from his capital, Santa Maria de la 

 Antigua, prompted by what the Indians had told him, and from an 

 elevation on the divide north of the Gulf of San Miguel, discovered 

 the Pacific Ocean on the 25th day of September, 1513. Many of the 

 earliest historical events of the Republic of Panama are associated with 

 this intrepid explorer. He was on the Isthmus but a short period, 

 but his restless energy was ever prompting him to new enterprises of 

 exploration and aggrandizement of territory for his home government. 

 His remarkable career wns cut short in 1517 by his execution at Ada, 

 on the Caril)bean shore of the Gulf of Darien, by a jealous governor 

 of the province, who feared that Balboa's fruitful enterprises might 

 give him sufficient eclat to make him the head of the new Spanish 

 territory in place of himself. 



The Spanish discoverers found all this countrv. like others of South 

 and Central America, peopled with large numbers of Indians. 



The territory constituting the present Republic of Panama, as well 

 as the northwesterly portion and west coast of South America, was 

 carefully scoured in search of the precious metals of w Inch fabulous 



« Reprinted by permission from The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. .w, 

 No. 2, February, 1904. 



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