Santa María la Antigua del Darién

Santa María la Antigua del Darién—turned into Dariena in the Latin of De Orbo Novo[1]—was a Spanish colonial town founded in 1510 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, located in present-day Colombia approximately 40 miles (64 km) south of Acandí, within the municipality of Unguía in the Chocó Department. It was the first city founded by conquistadors in mainland America.[2] After Pascual de Andagoya, a Spanish-Basque conquistador under the direction of Panama governor Pedrarias Dávila, founded Panama City in 1519,[3] Santa María la Antigua del Darién was abandoned and in 1524 was attacked and burned by the indigenous people.

Santa María la Antigua del Darién
1510–1524
Flag of Santa María la Antigua del Darién
Flag
Coat of arms of Santa María la Antigua del Darién
Coat of arms
History 
• Established
1510
• Disestablished
1524

In 2012 the lost site of the town was rediscovered, and in 2019 the government of Colombia opened the Parque Arqueológico e Histórico de Santa María de Belén la Antigua del Darién.[4]

Foundation edit

 
Monument to Vasco Núñez de Balboa in Madrid, founder of Santa María la Antigua del Darién

References edit

  1. ^ D'Anghiera, Peter Martyr. De Orbo Novo (in Latin). Trans. Richard Eden as The decades of the newe worlde or west India conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes with the particular description of the moste ryche and large landes and Ilands lately founde in the west Ocean perteynyng to the inheritaunce of the kinges of Spayne, Book III, §3. William Powell (London), 1555.
  2. ^ Vignolo, Paolo (April 2008). "Santa María de la Antigua: Prácticas y representaciones de un culto mariano entre Sevilla y el Darién". E-misférica. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  3. ^ Andagoya, Pascual de. "Narrative of Pascual de Andagoya". Narrative of the Proceedings of Pedrarias Davila. The Hakluyt Society. Retrieved 21 June 2019 – via Wikisource.
  4. ^ "La primera ciudad de América redescubierta y convertida en Parque Arqueológico" [The first city in America rediscovered and converted into an Archaeological Park]. Semana (in Spanish). 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2021-02-01.

8°12′53″N 77°01′17″W / 8.214861°N 77.021361°W / 8.214861; -77.021361