History of The Province of Darien

Darién is a province in Panama whose capital city is La Palma. With an area of 11,896.5 km² (4,593.3 sq mi), it is located at the eastern end of the country and bordered to the north by the province of Panamá and the region of Kuna Yala. To the south, it is bordered by the Pacific Oceanand Colombia. To the east, it borders Colombia; to the west, it borders the Pacific Ocean and the province of Panama.

The area surrounding the border with Colombia is known as the Darién Gap, a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest. With no roads, it is the missing link of the Pan-American Highway.

Place names

The name originates from the language spoken by the indigenous Cueva,^[1] an Indian tribe destroyed by the conquistadors during the 16th century. The Tanela River, which flows toward Atrato, was Hispanicized to Darién; the region and its communities took the same name. Santa María la Antigua del Darién, the first city founded in Terra Firma, also took its name from the river. Subsequently, the region's boundaries were defined by the Gulf of Urabá.

History

In 1508, the Crown decided to colonize the mainland, the chosen area extending from Cabo Gracias a Dios in western Central America (in the present boundary between Nicaragua and Honduras) to Cabo de la Vela, Venezuela in the east. The provinces on the mainland were Nueva Andalucía, between the Atrato River in the Gulf of Uraba and the Cabo de la Vela in Venezuela and Castilla del Oro (or Veragua), which stretched from the Atrato River to Cabo Gracias a Dios in Central America.

The Governor of Nueva Andalucía was Alonso de Ojeda and the mayor of Castilla del Oro was Diego de Nicuesa, who became the first governor of the Isthmus of Panama. Diego de Nicuesa founded Nombre de Dios in 1510. Martin Fernandez de Enciso founded Santa Maria la Antigua del Darién, west of the Gulf of Urabá, in September 1510 on the advice of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who had arrived at those lands earlier withRodrigo de Bastidas.

On September 1, 1513, Balboa went in search of the South Sea with 190 Spaniards and 1,000 Indians. He sighted the sea on September 25, 1513, and took possession of it on September 29 in the Gulf of San Miguel.^[2]

During the late 17th century there was a Scottish colonization project in the Isthmus of Panama (specifically in Darien), from which William Paterson emerged as the center of the unsuccessful attempt. The attempt to colonize by the Company of Scotland, which traded with Africa and the Indies, was part of the conflict between Spain and other 16th-century European powers in reaction to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas.

On July 14, 1698 Paterson left with an expedition of about 1,200 on five ships (Saint Andrew, Caledonia, Unicorn, Dolphin and Endeavour) from Leith, Scotland. The expedition landed October 30, 1698 in Anachucuna, a sandy bay in the north of Darien near Golden Island. It forged a "treaty of alliance and friendship" with an Indian leader, and founded in Acla a colony known as New Caledonia.

Paterson and his expedition withstood a Spanish force which attempted to confront them. However, diseases related to the climate and unsanitary conditions soon decimated the expedition. In June 1699 the Scots were forced to leave New Caledonia, despite protests from Paterson, and retreated to Jamaica.

A second expedition left Scotland on September 24, 1699 from Port Clyde River with four ships: the Rising Sun, Hamilton, Hope of Boroughstonness and Company's Hope). Paterson had a total crew of 1,300 men. On November 30, 1699 they arrived safely at the port of Caledonia, but met greater resistance from Spanish forces; they were besieged, outnumbered and without external support. On March 28, 1700, they requested that the Spanish commander set conditions for surrender.