Panama Viejo

The ruins of the original Panama City, founded in 1519, stand at the eastern edge of the modern capital. As the first European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, it flourished as a hub for silver shipped from Peru until the pirate Henry Morgan sacked and burned it in 1671. Surviving stone walls, the cathedral tower and monastery ruins spread across a grassy site. A UNESCO World Heritage listing and interpretive museum protect the remains.