Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo
| Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo | |
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| Fortificaciones de la costa caribe de Panamá | |
| Portobelo and Fort San Lorenzo, Panama | |
The ruins of fort San Lorenzo at Portobelo.
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 Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo
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| Coordinates | 9°33′18″N 79°39′18″W / 9.555°N 79.655°W |
| Site history | |
| Built | 17th and 18th century |
| Built by | Spanish Empire |
| Official name | Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | (i) (iv) |
| Designated | 1980 (4th session) |
| Reference no. | 135 |
| State Party | Panama |
| Region | Latin America and the Caribbean |
The fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo are military constructions, built by the Spanish Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries on the Caribbean coastline of Colón Province in Panama. The ruins are located on the coast of the province of Colón. In view of their cultural importance, the sites have been inscribed by UNESCO in 1989 as a World Heritage Site under Criteria (i) and (iv), with the description, "Magnificent examples of 17th- and 18th-century military architecture, these Panamanian forts on the Caribbean coast form part of the defence system built by the Spanish Crown to protect transatlantic trade."
The Portobelo and San Lorenzo fortifications are situated approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) from each other on Panama's Atlantic coast. Portobelo's military structures provided a security cover on the Caribbean part of the Panama harbour whereas the fortifications at San Lorenzo protected the Chagres River at its mouth. The port was built as an alternate Caribbean terminal to the one at Nombre de Dios to navigate through the Isthmus of Panama. The primary purpose was to avoid the land route which was affected during the rainy months. The Chagres River-Cruces access was a combination of waterway and terrestrial route built as an alternative to the approach to Portobelo via Camino Real and Panama City.
In 1502, Christopher Columbus was caught in a severe storm in the sea, and forced to land in a village on the Isthmus of Panama. According to legend, he named it Puerto Bello (Beautiful Port). In 1586, Bautista Antonelli prepared the plans for the first of the fortifications to secure entry to the Bay of Portobelo and the mouth of the Chagres River, and constructed the same by the 1590s. The town of San Felipe de Portobelo, however, was established on 20 March 1597. Over the centuries, Portobelo developed into a strategic Spanish establishment in the New World as it was well-linked with a stone paved road to Panama city. The port's importance as a key transshipment location for the Spanish Conquistadors was to temporarily stack the plundered loot of gold and silver from the Incan mines. They transported the looted treasure on donkey caravans from the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama to Portobelo on the Caribbean side, before finally shipping it to the king of Spain.
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Wikipedia