Santa María la Antigua del Darién facts for kids

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

Santa María la Antigua del Darién—turned into Dariena in the Latin of De Orbo Novo—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. After Pascual de Andagoya, a Spanish-Basque conquistador under the direction of Panama governor Pedrarias Dávila, founded Panama City in 1519, Santa María la Antigua del Darién was abandoned and in 1524 was attacked and burned by the indigenous people.

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.

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

See also

In Spanish: Santa María la Antigua del Darién para niños