Editing History of Panama (section)

===Colonization===
On August 15, 1519, Pedrarias, having abandoned ''Santa María la Antigua del Darién'', moved the capital of ''Castilla del Oro'' with all its organizational institutions to the Pacific Ocean's coast and founded Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Panamá (present day [[Panama City]]), the first European settlement on the shores of the Pacific.

From about 1520 the Genoese controlled the port of [[Panama]], the first port on the Pacific, founded by the conquest of the Americas. The [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese obtained a concession from the Spanish to exploit the port mainly]] for the slave trade of the new world on the Pacific, until the destruction of the primeval city in 1671.<ref>{{Cite web |title=I Genovesi d'Oltremare i primi coloni moderni |website=www.giustiniani.info |url=http://www.giustiniani.info/oltremare.html |access-date=2020-08-05 |archive-date=2020-02-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223140429/http://www.giustiniani.info/oltremare.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=15. Casa de los Genoveses – Patronato Panamá Viejo |url=http://www.patronatopanamaviejo.org/ppv2014/es/el-sitio-arqueologico/los-monumentos/mapa-de-monumentos/15-casa-de-los-genoveses |website=www.patronatopanamaviejo.org |access-date=2020-08-05 |archive-date=2017-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911025455/http://www.patronatopanamaviejo.org/ppv2014/es/el-sitio-arqueologico/los-monumentos/mapa-de-monumentos/15-casa-de-los-genoveses }}</ref> In the meantime in 1635 Don [[Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera]], the then governor of Panama, had recruited Genoese (Participants in the Crusades), Peruvians, and Panamanians, as soldiers to wage war against Muslims in the Philippines and to found the city [[Zamboanga City|of Zamboanga]].<ref>[http://www.zamboanga.com/html/history_1634_moro_attacks.htm "SECOND BOOK OF THE SECOND PART OF THE CONQUESTS OF THE FILIPINAS ISLANDS, AND CHRONICLE OF THE RELIGIOUS OF OUR FATHER, ST. AUGUSTINE"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508103044/https://www.zamboanga.com/html/history_1634_moro_attacks.htm |date=May 8, 2021 }} (Zamboanga City History)
"He (Governor Don Sebastían Hurtado de Corcuera) brought a great reënforcements of soldiers, many of them from Perú, as he made his voyage to Acapulco from that kingdom."</ref>

Governor Pedrarias sent Gil González Dávila to explore northward, and in 1524 [[Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (founder of Nicaragua)|Francisco Hernández de Córdoba]] to settle that region (present day [[Nicaragua]]). Pedrarias was a party to the agreement authorizing the expedition by [[conquistador]]s [[Francisco Pizarro]] and [[Diego de Almagro]] that brought the European discovery and [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire|conquest of the Inca Empire]] (present day [[Peru]]).

In 1526, Pedrarias was superseded as Governor of Panama by Pedro de los Ríos, and retired to León in Nicaragua, where he was named its new governor on July 1, 1527. Here he died on March 6, 1531, aged 90 or 91.

Panama was part of the [[Spanish Empire]] for over 300 years (1513–1821) and its fate changed with the geopolitical importance of the isthmus to the Spanish crown. In the 16th and 17th centuries, at the height of the Empire, no other region would prove of more strategic and economic importance.

Governor Pedrarias began building intercontinental and trans-isthmian portage routes, such as the "Camino Real" and "Camino de Cruces", linking Panama City and the Pacific with Nombre de Dios (and later with "Portobelo") and the Atlantic, making possible the establishment of a trans-atlantic system of Treasure Fleets and trade. It is estimated that of all the gold entering Spain from the New World between 1531 and 1660, 60% had arrived at its destiny via the 'Treasure Fleet and Fairs' system from Nombre de Dios/Portobello.

Explorations and conquest expeditions launched from Panama claimed new lands and riches from Central and South America. Other explorations sought a natural waterway between the Atlantic and the South Sea with the hope of reaching the Molucas (Spice Islands—[[Maluku Islands]]) and [[Cathay]] (China). Eventually, the practicality of the Isthmus came about as it was the middle of two oceans. Latin-American traders often passed through Panama before proceeding to Cuba before sailing to Spain in the [[Spanish treasure fleet]]. It also served a similar purpose to those going to Asia, in which case, Panama was a supporting node in the Transpacific [[Manila galleon]]s connecting Southeast Asia and Latin America via Spanish Philippines.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/44625493/Connecting_China_with_the_Pacific_World Connecting China with the Pacific World By Angela Schottenhammer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527045556/https://www.academia.edu/44625493/Connecting_China_with_the_Pacific_World |date=May 27, 2021 }}(2019) (Page 144-145)</ref> However, at 1579, the role of Panama was expanded as the royal monopoly Acapulco-Mexico had, with trade with Manila-Philippines, was removed and thus Panama, by decree, became another port that could trade directly with Asia and the Philippines.<ref name="Fisher1997">{{cite book|author=John Robert Fisher|title=The Economic Aspects of Spanish Imperialism in America, 1492-1810|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MRI-LiWuJh4C&pg=PA65|year=1997|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-0-85323-552-1|pages=65–66}}</ref>