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Forts
Old Panama - Panama Viejo
Panama City - Casco Viejo
Azuero Peninsula
Petroglyphs
Panama
Viejo - Old Panama
The anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal to inter-oceanic
traffic on August 15, 1914 is also the anniversary of the founding of
Old Panama, on August 15, 1519.
Panama was a fishing village on the coast of what was then called the
South Sea. Six years after Balboa discovered the ocean, Pedrarias Davila,
governor of Panama decided to locate his capital city on the site of
the Indian village. On August 15, 1519, 395 years before the opening
of the Panama Canal, Gaspar de Espinosa, chief alcalde of Darien, acting
under the orders of Pedrarias, formally established the new city.
On the day of the founding Pedrarias issued a proclamation promising
to defend the capital for Dona Juana, the Queen, and Don Carlos, her
son. It was two years after the founding of the city, however, that
Don Carlos, by that time Charles V of Spain, created the city by royal
decree and recognized it as the site of the Spanish government in the
province of Panama.
The city of Panama grew rapidly from the moment of its establishment,
maintaining its position as chief post of the Pacific and terminus of
the first transit route across the Isthmus. Through it passed all the
great output of gold and silver from the rich mines of Peru and the
mines in the province of Veraguas, as well as the products from the
pearl fisheries in the Bay of Panama. The city survived several disastrous
fires, but finally was destroyed by a band of pirates under Sir Henry
Morgan in 1671.
Panama
City - Casco Viejo is the historic center of Panama City. It is
a quiet, charming district of narrow streets overlooked by the flower
bedecked balconies of two and three-story houses. At its tip lies French
Park, a monument to the French builders who began the Panama Canal,
and the lovely French Embassy. On the walkway around the monument. visitors
have a fine view of the Amador Causeway and Bridge of the Americas,
and of Panama City's skyscraper skyline to the east. A plaque on the
walkway commemorates the firing of canon shots to drive away a Colombian
warship and consolidate Panama's independence from Colombia in 1903.
To one side of the monument is an old Spanish structure called Las Bovedas
now used as an art gallery and French restaurant. Some excellent museums
are found in the Casco Viejo, including the Canal Museum, which traces
Panama's history as the route connecting Atlantic and Pacific from pre-Hispanic
to modern times. Next door is the Museum of National History and the
old cathedral, with gleaming spires inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Nearby
is a small museum dedicated to religious art, found in the old Santo
Domingo monastery, where visitors will also see the famous Flat Arch,
which reportedly helped convince engineers that Panama was earth-quake-proof.
At the San Jose Cathedral a few blocks away is the beautiful Gold Altar,
intricately carved of wood and gilded with gold. Another beautiful building
in the Casco Viejo is the Presidential House, which can be toured on
Sundays.
Azuero
Peninsula
Nata, in the Province of Coclé, is one of the oldest colonial
cities and with the oldest church on the American Continent.
Petroglyphs
You can miss them easily enough even when searching, and anyone who
has walked up a stream bed or along some of the many valleys in Panama
may have seen but not recognized the petroglyphs -- huge rocks and boulders
on which the Indians left part of their indelibly written history 1,000
years ago.
These large gray masses dot much of the Interior, but to discover them
takes more than an adventurous spirit and boundless energy, although
these qualities help. A study of the ancient Carib Indians who are credited
with engraving their hieroglyphics, is a must.
Warlike, but highly skilled in the arts and crafts, the Caribs chipped
out their messages on only certain boulders -- those that faced water,
either a stream, river, or pond. The inscriptions invariably face the
upstream direction or mountain ranges where rain clouds first begin
to darken the sky. It can e assumed, therefore, that some of the writing
may have been for the benefit of the rain god.
The Caribs populated Panama from approximately 900 to 1,500 years ago.
Although little is known about their hieroglyphics compared to the writings
of the Mayan culture, the petroglyphs may have been used to commemorate
certain festivities or religious functions, warnings to other tribes
not to trespass and to explain the ways of the spirits.
Sun And Rain: Various sized circles, and symmetrical signs possibly
indicating the sun, rain and earth, death masks, and animals such as
alligators and monkeys adorn the petroglyphs.
There is one location where Sunday explorers from the Canal Zone and
Panama City can, with a bit of effort, examine a petroglyph. Drive west
46 miles along the Inter-American Highway to Bejuco and turn right at
the El Economico store onto a dirt road, the only one there is, located
approximately in the middle of the town. It leads to the village of
Sora. About half a mile out of Bejuco you will come to a grove of coconut
palm trees. Just to the right, on a hill, will be an outcropping of
dark, gray rock, the site of several petroglyphs. You will have to climb
over the larger boulders which overlook the palm grove and examine them
closely to find the engravings. The largest one is of a 5-foot alligator.
On another boulder, a little farther down the hill where it gets difficult
to walk, are many small circles and a symmetrical circular design dug
out of the rock's surface.
Other sites where petroglyphs have been found include: El Valle, La
Pintada, Rio Grande, Calobre, Atalaya, Ocu, La Mesa, Sona, Mamey, Boca
Baja, Remedios, Caldera, Boquete, Concepcion, San Miguel, and El Volcan.
To find them is another matter. Weathered over the hundreds of years
since the Indians engraved them, a person, unaware of their presence,
could stand on a petroglyph and not see the hieroglyphics. But if you
have the time, plenty of it, and the inclination, you can talk to farmers
who live in the areas where the petroglyphs are found and know their
location. The writing is not the only significant thing about these
stones. On 90 percent of the larger ones are blood basins and drainage
canals leading down the sides. One theory, and there are many connected
with the petroglyphs, is that the Carib hieroglyphics were made for
certain festivals and ceremonies, and that humans were sacrificed on
the rocks to bring good luck to the tribe.
The first petroglyph in Panama was discovered in 1898, and by 1953 only
three were known. But that year, the most zealous petroglyph hunter
in the Republic of Panama, Neville A. Harte, began his quest. In seven
years between 1953 and 1960, Harte, now 62 and a retired PanCanal employee
spent all of his spare time and $12,000 of his own money in searching
out the petroglyphs. He discovered and investigated 280 of them traveling
by jeep, horseback, dugout and on foot through the Interior.
Part of his expenses was for a booklet he published titled Panorama
of Panama Petroglyphs. Copies are in the Canal Zone Library.
Petroglyphs are found throughout most of the world and a charcoal rubbing
of one in Hawaii can be seen in the Canal Zone Library-Museum. The Caribs
worshiped various gods and spirits and apparently implored them to give
rain, good crops, and animals to hunt. Hunters from various tribes would
occasionally travel out of their territory to hunt and possibly plunder
villages and graves where much of the other tribe's wealth and religious
totems were to be found.
According to belief, even today, an Indian never dies, but goes to a
happier, more plentiful life. therefore, their wealth consisting of
gold ornaments, colorful feathers and pottery was buried with them.
To protect the graves and to keep away pillaging warriors from other
tribes, some of the petroglyphs appear to have been engraved with warnings
saying that trespassers would be dealt with severely and possibly face
death. The death's head design such as one found at Sona in Veraguas
Province may have been a warning sign. The boulder it was engraved on
was a sacrificial altar. On the top is a blood basin where humans were
sacrificed to the gods.
Grave Robbing then, as now, Indian graves were robbed.
The Caribs believed that if they could obtain the items placed in the
graves of great warriors or tribal chiefs they would receive their power
and strength. Today, however, unlawful grave robbing is for the artifacts
they may contain. Many of the petroglyphs are cracked. The theory is
that the Caribs may have built fires on the rocks as part of their ceremonies.
During his investigations, Harte has found modern-day coins in some
of the cracks indicating that some of the natives of the Interior still
regard these strange boulders with ancient carvings as more than mere
large stones, and throwing a coin or two within the crack might bring
them luck. Although Harte admits he is only an amateur archeologist,
he discounts one theory for the purpose of petroglyphs given by some
American archeologists. "A lot of Americans think these are only signs
to the Indians that there was good hunting in that area. That's a lot
of hooey because they would know whether there was good hunting there
without having to read signs," he said. A reason for some of the petroglyphs
was for grave markers. Circles represent graves, explains Harte, who
proved this theory by actually finding grave sites indicated by the
circles found on a petroglyph. Buried Some of the boulders Harte discovered
had to be dug up from under several feet of earth. It is still a mystery
why some were buried, but one possibility is that the invading Spanish
saw them and decided to hide them from the Indians as punishment. Some
of them may have been placed over graves and sunk down.
Whatever the reason, the buried ones were kept in better condition because
they were away from the weather. Through his studies, Harte has found
that there was no variation either in the depth or width of the inscriptions
on any of the rocks. Each engraved line was a quarter of an inch deep
and five eighths of an inch wide. "This indicates that they used the
same type of tools to make the engravings," Harte said. How Harte was
able to discover the petroglyphs was a combination of instinct, knowing
a lot about what he was looking for, and hard work. Dedicated to the
hunt, Harte said his instincts often led him to the right place. He
would then look for broken rock and chips which remained over the years.
"When I found a stone where it wasn't supposed to be then I knew there
was something interesting there."
Exerpts from a story by Louis R. Granger, in The Panama Canal Review,
May 1969
for more delightful stories about Panama's past, visit:
http://www.czbrats.com/Menus/Mi_Nombre_es_Panama.htm
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