Once an important port for the transatlantic exchange and a major stage for the battles between the Spanish and British Empires in the Caribbean, today Portobelo stands out as a historical place to be rediscovered. Located in a small bay in the northern coast of the Isthmus of Panamá, Portobelo hosted an infamous annual fair for the Spanish Empire between 1597 and 1739. The fair was a market place not only for the silver, gold, and other goods from the South American colonies, but also for the goods from the old world. Merchants met during the temporary fairs and engaged in trade both legally an illegally. The amount of wealth and goods that transited this port made it a favorite target for pirates and many of them such as Sir Francis Drake and Henry Morgan attacked Portobelo and flu the British flag over the port. However, despite all the wealth that passed through this city, none of it seemed to have remained. While visiting Portobelo this year, almost 3 centuries after the last market fair, I was struck by what is is left. The ruins of the Spanish empire that are still in place are just the ones of the military fortifications, the major building of the Aduana (taxing building), a water canal system, some peddle stone streets, a church, and a mysterious clock and measure system. The city, despite its importance for the commerce between the new and old world, was never developed. The ruins stand now as a symbol of the paradoxical nature of the transatlantic commerce and the relationships between empires and their colonies.
Strategically, Portobelo was situated at a bay of narrow mouth and with a choral reef that worked as a military barrier against the pirate attacks. Furthermore, three different military forts formed a triangle at different locations of the bay from which they could strategically shoot canons to any enemy ship who entered they bay waters.
The port was located precisely next to The Fort of San Geronimo, at a farther point from the open sea. Today, parts of the structure of the fort are still visible, especially the walls and more than twenty the cannons formed in a row.
The building of the Aduana stands out near the Fort of San Geronimo as the biggest construction in the city. It used to be the place for holding the silver and gold coins, and other goods produced in the colonies from the Spanish Empire in South America, particularly the ones from the Virreinato del Perú.
Today in Portobelo some old and roosted cannons can be seen in the middle of the streets or sidewalks, as evidence of the many battles that were fought in the bay. These ancient technologies remain placed as ready made monuments that stand for centuries and remind us of the turbulent and violent history of many Caribbean ports.
