page_title: Darién Gap
section_title: European settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Darién Gap / History / European settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Voyage of Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513. Español: Viaje de Vasco Núñez de Balboa en 1513. Sources: DEMIS [1]
context_page_description: The Darién Gap is a break across the North and South American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest and mountains in the northern portion of Colombia's Chocó Department and Panama's Darién Province.
  The Pan-American Highway also has a corresponding gap of 106 kilometres in length, beginning at Turbo, Colombia, and ending at Yaviza, Panama. Roadbuilding through this area is expensive, and the environmental cost is high. Political consensus in favor of road construction collapsed after an initial attempt failed in the early 1970s, and to date has not yet re-emerged.
  The geography of the Darién Gap on the Colombian side is dominated primarily by the river delta of the Atrato River, which creates a flat marshland at least 80 km wide. The Serranía del Baudó range extends along Colombia's Pacific coast and into Panama. The Panamanian side, in stark contrast, is a mountainous rainforest, with terrain reaching from 60 m in the valley floors to 1,845 m at the tallest peak.
context_section_description: Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Alonso de Ojeda explored the coast of Colombia in 1500 and 1501. They spent the most time in the Gulf of Urabá, where they made contact with the Cunas. The regional border was initially created in 1508 after royal decree, to separate the colonial governorships of Castilla de Oro and Nueva Andalucía, using the River Atrato as the boundary between the two goverorships.
  Balboa heard of the South Sea from locals while sailing along the Caribbean coast. On 25 September 1513, he saw the Pacific.
  In 1519, the town of Panamá was founded near a small indigenous settlement on the Pacific coast. After the discovery of Peru, it developed into an important port of trade and became an administrative centre.
  In 1671, the Welsh pirate Henry Morgan crossed the Isthmus of Panamá from the Caribbean side and destroyed the city. The town was relocated some kilometers to the west at a small peninsula. The ruins of the old town, Panamá Viejo, are preserved and were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
  Silver and gold from the viceroyalty of Peru were transported overland across the isthmus by Spanish Silver Train to Porto Bello, where Spanish treasure fleets shipped them to Seville and Cádiz from 1707. Lionel Wafer spent four years between 1680 and 1684 among the Cuna Indians.
  In 1698, Scotland tried to establish a settlement through the Darien scheme, independent Scotland's one major attempt at colonialism. The first expedition of five ships (Saint Andrew, Caledonia, Unicorn, Dolphin, and Endeavour) set sail from Leith on 14 July 1698, with around 1,200 people on board. Their orders were "to proceed to the Bay of Darien, and make the Isle called the Golden Island ... some few leagues to the leeward of the mouth of the great River of Darien ... and there make a settlement on the mainland". After calling at Madeira and the West Indies, the fleet made landfall off the coast of Darien on November 2. The settlers christened their new home "New Caledonia".
  The aim was for the colony to have an overland route that connected the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. From its contemporary time to the present day, claims have been made that the undertaking was beset by poor planning and provisioning, divided leadership, a poor choice of trade goods, devastating epidemics of disease, reported attempts by the East India Company to frustrate it, as well as a failure to anticipate the Spanish Empire's military response. It was finally abandoned in March 1700 after a siege by Spanish forces, which also blockaded the harbor.
  As the Company of Scotland was backed by approximately 20% of all the money circulating in Scotland, its failure left the entire Lowlands in substantial financial ruin and English financial incentives were a factor in persuading those in power to support the 1707 Acts of Union. According to this argument, the Scottish establishment (landed aristocracy and mercantile elites) considered that their best chance of being part of a major power would be to share the benefits of England's international trade and the growth of the English overseas possessions, so its future would have to lie in unity with England. Furthermore, Scotland's nobles were almost bankrupted by the Darien fiasco.
  The current border is regulated by the Victoria-Velez Treaty signed in Bogotá on 20 August 1924 by the Foreign Ministers of Panama, Nicolas Victoria; and Colombia, Jorge Velez. This treaty is officially registered in the Register No. 814 of the Treaty League of Nations, on 17 August 1925. The border was made based on the same Colombian law of 9 June 1855.
caption: Núñez de Balboa's travel route to the South Sea, 1513.
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