Portobelo, Colón

Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo *

Location of Portobelo in Panama
Country Panama
Type Cultural
Criteria i, iv
Reference 135
Region ** Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription history
Inscription 1980 (4th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List
** Region as classified by UNESCO

Portobelo is a port city in Colón Province, Panama. It is located on the northern part of the Isthmus of Panama and has a deep natural harbor. Today, Portobelo is a sleepy city with a population of fewer than 3,000. In 1980 the ruins of the Spanish colonial fortifications, along with nearby Fort San Lorenzo, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Contents

History

Portobelo was founded in 1597 by Spanish explorer Francisco Velarde y Mercado.[1] Legend has it that Christopher Columbus originally named the port "Puerto Bello", meaning "Beautiful Port", in 1502.[2] It is also said that after Francis Drake died of dysentery in 1596 at sea, he was buried in a lead coffin near Portobelo Bay. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, it was an important silver-exporting port in New Granada on the Spanish Main and one of the ports on the route of the Spanish treasure fleets. The Spanish built defensive fortifications.

The privateer Captain Henry Morgan attacked the city in 1668. He led a fleet of privateers and 450 men against Portobelo, which, in spite of its good fortifications, he captured. His forces plundered it for 14 days, stripping nearly all its wealth while raping, torturing and killing the inhabitants.

Following the British disaster in the Blockade of Porto Bello under Admiral Hosier in 1726, the port was attacked on November 21, 1739, and captured by a British fleet, commanded by Admiral Edward Vernon during the War of Jenkins' Ear. The British victory created an outburst of popular acclaim throughout its Empire. More medals were struck for Vernon that for any other 18th century British figure. Many Portobellos across the British Isles were named in honor of the victory, such as Portobello Road in London, the Portobello area in Edinburgh, and the Portobello Barracks in Dublin.[3]

The Spanish quickly recovered the Panamanian town and defeated Admiral Vernon in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741. Vernon was forced to return to England with a decimated fleet, having suffered more than 18,000 casualties.[4] Despite the Portobelo campaign, British efforts to gain a foothold in the Spanish Main and disrupt the galleon trade were fruitless. Following the War of Jenkins' Ear, the Spanish switched from large fleets calling at few ports to small fleets trading at a wide variety of ports, the flexibility making them less subject to attack. The ships began to travel around Cape Horn to trade directly at ports on the western coast.

References

  1. ^ Shirley Fish (17 May 2011). The Manila-Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific with an Annotated List of the Transpacific Galleons 1565-1815. AuthorHouse. pp. 45–. ISBN 9781456775421. http://books.google.com/books?id=kk_iU0f-iT8C&pg=PA45. Retrieved 18 July 2011. 
  2. ^ Patricia Katzman (10 February 2006). Panama. Hunter Publishing, Inc. pp. 136–. ISBN 9781588435293. http://books.google.com/books?id=i94Ea2E97jAC&pg=PA136. Retrieved 18 July 2011. 
  3. ^ Brendan Simms (8 December 2008). Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714-1783. Basic Books. p. 276. ISBN 9780465013326. http://books.google.com/books?id=izhwqC3W23UC. Retrieved 18 July 2011. 
  4. ^ Duncan, Francis. History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, London, 1879, Vol.1, p.123, Quote:"...so reduced was this force in two years by disaster and disease, that not a tenth part returned to England...'thus ended in shame, disappointment, and loss, the most important, most expensive, and best concerted expedition that Great Britain was ever engaged in'...".

Bibliography

External links

Media related to Portobelo at Wikimedia Commons