Portobelo is a historic port and corregimiento in Portobelo District, Colón Province, Panama. Located on the northern part of the Isthmus of Panama, it is 32 km (20 mi) northeast of the modern port of Colón now at the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It has a population of 4,559 as of 2010, and functions as the seat of Portobelo District.
Portobelo ruins and bay
An illustration of Henry Morgan's attack on the Castillo de San Jerónimo, Porto Bello in 1669
View of the fort, the Aduana building, and the church
The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal. Like many isthmuses, it is a location of great geopolitical and strategic importance.
An 1850 oil painting by Charles Christian Nahl: The Isthmus of Panama on the Height of the Chagres River
Francis Samuel Marryat, Crossing The Isthmus Of Panama, 1855