Panama City

Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a total population of 410,354 in the city proper and 1,086,990 in the Panamá District, which includes the outer corregimientos of the city. The metropolitan area has over 2,100,000 people. The city is at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of Panama. The city is the political and administrative center of the country, as well as a hub for banking and commerce. The city of Panama was founded on 15 August 1519, by Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila. The city was the starting point for expeditions that conquered the Inca Empire of Peru. It was a stopover point on one of the most important trade routes in the American continent, leading to the fairs of Nombre de Dios and Portobelo, through which passed most of the gold and silver that Spain mined from the Americas. On 28 January 1671, the original city was destroyed by a fire when the privateer Henry Morgan sacked and set fire to it. The city was formally reestablished two years later on 21 January 1673, on a peninsula 8 km (5 miles) from the original settlement. The site of the previously devastated city is still in ruins, and is now a World Heritage Site and popular tourist attraction.