The History of Isla Taboga


The History of Isla Taboga

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Written by Administrator

Tuesday, November 07 2006

Nestled in the bay of Panama lies picturesque Isla Taboga, an island about 50 minutes away by boat from Panama City. If you take the ferry you will arive on a long pier. From there you will see a charming village set among narrow romantic streets, a white washed church, and beautiful vistas overlooking the sea. It's close proximity to Panama City makes it a great weekend getaway for people looking to escape city life. If you are lucky enough, you may even see Humpback or Sei whales breaching the surface in exciting displays of bravado while on their migration to and from their feeding zones.

These islands used to be home to an Indian tribe who lived in thatched huts and made their living by fishing and hunting the many birds that nested on the island. The name Taboga is infact derived from their word, ‘aboga' which means many fish. The peaceful life of the indians was broken in 1515, when Spanish Conquistadors reached the island and plundered what little valuables they had. They enslaved the Indians and took them back to Panama City. Later, a puny Spanish colony was established on the island. Then in 1549, Panama decided to free their Indian slaves and many decided to make Taboga their new home.

The town of San Pedro on Taboga was founded in 1524 by Padre Hernando de Luque, the dean of the Panama cathedral. He provided funding for Pizzaro's expedition into the Inca territory. In fact, Pizzaro and his men felled most of the old growth trees on the island in order to build the ships they used to get to Peru.

When the pirate era swooped down on Panama, the island of Taboga was center stage. Pirates such as Henry Morgan and Sir Francis Drake used the island as a staging point for their sieges on Panamanian forts. On August 22, 1686, the ship of Captain Townley, who was in command of the English and French buccaneers was waiting in front of Taboga when it was attacked by three Spanish Men of War. The pirates lost only one man and had 22 wounded, including Townley himself. The buccaneers sent the Governor of Panama a message asking him to release the hostages. When the Governor only sent medicine, Townley sent another message saying that if the demands were not met, he would start cutting off heads. The Governor did not take this seriously. As a result, Townley made good on his word and sent him a canoe containing the heads of 20 Spaniards.

There was still more conflict to come when as late as 1819, the English Captain Illingsworth came to the island with boatloads Chilean sailors and sacked the island. During the 1880s the island became a sanitarium for French workers who fell ill while working on the Panama Canal. Then in the 1940s the US Navy used the broad hill on the island for their artillery practice. The military installed search lights and anti-aircraft guns on top of the hills and built bunkers. They were abandoned in 1960, but can still be viewed.

In the 1880s the famous French painter Paul Gauguin came to the islands to paint scenes of island life before he left for Martinique and Tahiti. Also, the first saint of the Western World, Santa Rosa de Lima was born on the island of Taboga.

Despite it's turbulant past, Taboga is now tranquil, as many people from Panama City find out when they come to spend a weekend. Today, you can drink a beer on the very beach where conquistadors explored, Pizzaro dreamt of plunder, a famous painter strolled, and a saint gathered firewood.

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