Discovering The Past In Portobello: Pirates And Forts ~ by Escapeartist Staff

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Discovering The Past In Portobello

Pirates And Forts

by Escapeartist Staff

Portobello is a city that is as important as New York City or Washington D.C. to the history of the Western Hemisphere. You are probably saying to yourself that he can’t be right. I’ve never heard of the place and if it’s so important why haven’t I heard about it. Well, this article is an attempt to uncover some of the little known history of a town that on its surface looks to be nothing more than a dot on the Panamanian map, a town on the Caribbean coast of Panama that most people only pass through on their way to the popular island of Isla Grande. What started me thinking about Portobello was a story a friend told me about how Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate in Virginia, was named by Washington’s brother, Lawrence, after a famous English pirate named Edward Vernon, who along with Lawrence Washington, captured Portobello in 1739 as part of the British Cartagena Campaign of the 1730s and 1740s.

The Cartagena Campaign was an attempt by the British to weaken Spanish power in the Caribbean, especially in the lower Caribbean along the Panamanian and Colombian coast. For the Spanish and the local populations these English incursions into their territory were seen as terrorist acts, though by the 18th century the Spanish had become inured to these incursions, as pirates like Drake, Morgan and Hawkins had carried out raids along the Caribbean coast of Panama during the previous two centuries.

But the Spanish, knowing the British intended to exercise more power in the lower Caribbean and the mainland of Latin America started to fortify their settlements along the Caribbean coast: the walled city of Cartagena being the most beautiful and obvious example of this deep Spanish fear of English pirates.

The pirate Vernon was able to take Portobello in 1739, but two years later he would be defeated at Cartagena. But the British desire to pry Latin America out of the hands of the Spanish would continue into the early 19th century; in fact, the British with the help of Francisco de Miranda, the father of Venezuelan independence, had drawn up a plan to have 10,000 sepoy troops invade the mainland of Latin America.

depplay Catholic and very well-known for its dark aThe invasion would have probably begun from Trinidad, with Venezuela and Colombia as the main targets. I imagine the British were nervous about going into a region that was so nd very secretive society: a society that bishop Bartolomé de Las Casas in 1552 called the “black legend”. The British were never brave enough to actually follow through with any of the plans they developed for a full-scale invasion of the Latin American mainland; the idea of a large British presence in Latin America faded away after the U.S. laid down the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Thereafter, the British slowly backed out of the Caribbean and Latin America and the U.S. filled the void by sending their own “terrorists/pirates” into Latin America – they were known as the filibusters of the 19th century.

But the Vernon story isn’t enough; it doesn’t even come close to showing how important Portobello was to many of the major

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historical developments in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East during the 16th and 17th century.

Columbus stopped in the Bay of Portobello on his fourth journey to the New World in 1502. There had been a terrible storm out to sea and he pulled into the bay for protection; that is how the bay was given its name: “Portobello” or “beautiful port”. He was only able to continue on to Nombre de Dios, which is fifteen to twenty miles from Portobello. But he would have seen that Bay of Portobello might be a valuable to the Spanish as a trading and shipping center. But Portobello doesn’t become important until after the Spanish set up a permanent presence in Panama. Portobello became the most important city in the Spanish Empire of the 16th century, because it was the Spanish administrative center for all of the wealth that was being taken out of the silver and gold mines of Peru and Bolivia. All of the gold and silver of South America came up the Pacific Coast of South America, was unloaded in Panama City, and then taken by mule train across the Panamanian Isthmus to the town of Nombre de Dios. But after realizing that the bay in Nombre de Dios was not as easily defended as the bay in Portobello, the Spanish started to fortify Portobello and to bring all the gold and silver from South America to Portobello rather than to Nombre de Dios.

The change from Nombre de Dios to Portobello occurred towards the end of -16th century. An Italian who must have known what he was doing laid out the city of Portobello: the town was built on a type of coral stone that was impervious to canon fire. As one friend with whom I talked to about the history of the city told me “It was as though the canon fire was hitting a giant mattress which soaked up the force of the cannonball. And the force of the cannonball only help tighten, strengthen, and reinforce the coral stone foundation of the city”.

And it was the immense wealth that passed through Portobello that kept the cannonballs flying. But the more important aspect to remember when discussing Portobello is what effect did all of the gold and silver that passed through the Counting House of Portobello have on the development of European diplomacy.

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The most important consequence of the great amounts of silver and gold that passed through Portobello was that it allowed Spain to pursue its religious wars against Protestantism in Europe; the gold and silver was spent on that great transforming human activity known as warfare.

The European religious wars of the 16th and 17th century, which laid the basis for the emergence of the modern nation-state system by replacing religious empires with nation-states, nation-states being the main determinate of human identity to this day – I am an American, Russian or Chinese - could never have been financed without the safe passage of gold and silver from the Bay of Portobello. But the effects of the movement of gold and silver from Portobello to Europe did not stop just in Europe. The influx of silver and gold into Europe caused the value of silver to fall around the Mediterranean region, so that silver-based economies or currencies such as those in the Ottoman Empire began to experience an increase in inflation, and as a result of inflation, their populations experienced an increase in taxation. Some credit Spanish gold and silver for the slow decline of the Middle East region: to make up for the high inflation and their shrinking wealth, rulers in the Middle East sought credit from Europe and, like Latin America today, once credit was given then political and economic autonomy declined, or worse, colonization began.

So that is my argument for Portobello as one of the most important cities in the Western Hemisphere. It is also the place where Francis Drake, the great 16th century English pirate died in 1595; his body was thrown into the bay. One other thing, Portobello used to have fairs in the 17th and 18th century that would last for 40 to 60 days in which any pirate was free to land in Portobello and engage in trade and whatever else he desired.

Discovering Portobello

I left Panama City early in the morning and arrived to Portobello just as the sun was rising. I walked around the ruins of Fort Santiago, which is located on the mainland and on the road as you enter the town of Portobello, and Fort San Fernando, which is located across the Bay of Portobello on Drake Island. Both of the forts were built to protect the entrance into the Bay of Portobello from pirates and both forts are built in a beautiful green tropical setting. The forts, especially San Fernando, are built on a number of different altitudes. The parts of the forts that lie at lower altitudes are where the Spanish kept their canons; as you move up in altitudes you encounter small forts known as “casamatas”, this is where the Spanish stored their gunpowder and arms. The “casamatas” are located on incredibly beautiful remote hillsides and it was quite an effort to climb up the wet grass to get a look inside the small forts, but the view from high up is impressive as you can see far out to sea. As you stand there looking out you realize how effective these hilltop forts were in spotting approaching ships. As I stood near the “casamata” on Drake Island, I could see far out to sea and behind me I could smell the green forest, the all too-sweet smell of decaying banana and mango leaves ran up my nose and danced around my head. Just below the “casamata” I heard some noises in the forest and a small family on horseback came out of the forest below and began the descent to the waterfront far below. Inside the “casamata” there was nothing, the walls were black and the circular stone steps that led up to the lookout posts were crumbling. I hid a dollar in the walls of the “casamata” wondering if I would ever return to this remote spot in the future. After standing on the hillside for 15 minutes I headed down the hillside that had been so difficult to climb and made my way to the waterfront where I caught a boat that took me back to the mainland.

As I looked out over the Bay of Portobello, I could see small sailboats anchored in the bay waiting out the bad weather at sea. This was what Columbus had done in 1502. I talked with some of the owners of the sailboats; most had been sailing around the Caribbean for the last few years and they told me that during the hurricane season, which was at its peak in September, they liked to sail around the southern Caribbean, which was hurricane free. Most sailed along the coast of Panama and Colombia and most had spent months in and around the San Blas Islands which were to the south of Portobello. Many of the travelers I talked to had left the U.S. years before and had not been back in five or six years and had no intention of returning. They liked the idea of having no permanent home, of always being on the move, and of living among the beauty of the Caribbean islands and waters. I could see what they found so appealing about it, but it also seemed to me that in some way they were very lonely people. I found talking to them to be very difficult, for some of them it was very difficult to communicate, but others didn’t want me to leave; they wanted to have a long conversation, they didn’t want to be left alone.

Expatriates In Panama And The Election In The U.S.

The upcoming U.S. presidential election is creating some slight but happy division among the expatriate community in Panama. Most of the expats I talked with about the election were former military men or former Military Intelligence Officers who have retired to Panama. Most of the officers were divorced and now single. Most had attained the rank of Lt. Colonel; apparently if you are single or divorced in the U.S. military it is very hard to rise above the rank of Lt. Colonel, most are crazier than your average person, and most are great fun to socialize with: very smart and knowledgeable about the world. However, the idea of living in the U.S. again is something they would never consider. Some had gone back and hated it. They told me: “Look, I am 62 or 63 years old, in the U.S. I am just another “old man”. I would have no sex life there. Here in Panama I can still be attractive to a 28 year old woman, I can feel like I am still alive, that I am still attractive to someone”. This was true, but these relationships they were referring to with the 28 year old were very much roller coaster rides with lots of screaming turns and deep valleys and high peaks, but they liked that. The other thing they pointed out to me was that the U.S. has become to controlling, too much social control. The taxes were so high that their retirement was eaten up by an expensive lifestyle that was not enjoyable. But it was the excitement of Panama that kept them here: the unpredictability of the place, the roll-the-dice atmosphere. They often talked about forming or breaking up “illegal rings” in a past present life.

Anyway, they discussed with me the election so I will give you the two sides of what they said and try to stay out of it.

George Bush Side: Most wanted Bush to win the upcoming election. They said: “So what about his military record, so he flew some jets and worked for his dad during the Vietnam War”, a war most of them had fought in. The war in Iraq was going to be a loser in the end and they could see how politics would take over the running of the war. Although, they did say that the Muslims in the Middle East had become too “radical” and that had to stop, as they were upsetting the balance around the world. Bush was favorable to them, not because they liked him as a person, they didn’t, but because he wasn’t Kerry. To them Kerry was full-of-shit and if the American people voted for Kerry they better be ready to eat piles of shit. They understood that Bush was a product of his father and might even have an Oedipus complex. The arguments about Bush and God and Bush and security didn’t ring with them. Some said that Bush was trying to connect God and national security to some mythical domain beyond politics, a domain immune to political wrangling, but at the same time using God and national security in a very political way. But Bush was straight, not like the bent Kerry.

John Kerry Side: Those that supported Kerry told me: “Bush might have been a deserter” On Kerry: “Well he has killed people so he knows something about fighting and that is very important right now. His war service was honorable and so what if he opposed a war that every American knows by now was foolish.” What they didn’t like about Bush was that he lied when he took the country into Iraq. They said: “ Lyndon Johnson told the country in 1964 that he would not have American boys fight a war Asian boys should fight”. Of course as he said this, 500,000 American boys were being prepared to be sent to Vietnam. They went on: “Richard Nixon ran in 1968 on a platform to end the Vietnam War and not to increase the conflict beyond Vietnam. Well, the Vietnam War didn’t end until 1975 and between his first election and resignation he not only continued the war in Vietnam, but he also spread the war into Cambodia”. This kind of lying at the elite level always spelled disaster. Bush had lied about the pretext of the war and he too would lead the country into disaster. They continued: “Iraq is broke; it now has to be fixed, but we want to do this thing on the cheap and now we have an Iraqi state that was secular quickly becoming a hotbed for Islamic fundamentalists. The argument ended with the idea that domestic politics in the U.S. under Bush did not match foreign policy. On domestic policies: “How can you have tax cuts – a policy normally pursued during peacetime – and divisive politics that discriminate against ethnic minorities and homosexuals, but at the same time says that we have to be unified as a nation to defeat the threat of terrorism – and if you don’t agree with us you are not a true American. It doesn’t make any sense.”

One of the older and most intelligent of the expats said to me, “Look, Matt I know it is strange: most people in the military want to support the guy who didn’t want to fight and didn’t go and fight, but who says war is a great thing; while most of them are against the guy who went and fought and killed people, but who came back and protested the war. He looked at me and said: We all live through an era: the Vietnam War was an era and unless you were in your early adulthood at that time you wouldn’t understand the paradox of people’s feelings about the two candidates. The answer was in time past.