Documents Relating to Panama City
Municipal Documents from Panama City
Collection area: Borderlands
Collection dates: 1521-1953 bulk (bulk 1521-1818)
Bound volume of handwritten and typed transcriptions concerning the founding and history of Panama City. Topics include the founding of the settlement by Pedrarias Dávila in 1521; an attack on it in 1550; and other historic events from 1551 to its destruction by fire and reconstruction in 1675. Among the other documents are a copy of a royal certificate authorizing the creation of the University of San Javier in 1749; and papers of the viceroy, Benito Pérez, regarding the establishment of a Spanish constitution in 1812. Also present is a record of the requests of Juan José Cabarcas, representing the Panamanian people, to the Audencia de Panamá, a judicial board that represented the Spanish crown. Miscellaneous items include a 1906 newspaper article, and two letters from José de la Pena, director of the Archivo General de Indias, concerning the compilation of these documents.
This work was commissioned in 1953 by Ernesto de Jesús Castillero Reyes, Vice President of the Academia Panameña de la Historia; the original documents are in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain.
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