Panama City was founded on August 15, 1519 and it lasted one hundred and fifty-two years. In January 1671, the Governor Juan Perez de Guzman had it set on fire, before the attack and looting by the pirate
Henry Morgan. In 1672, Antonio Fernández de Córdoba initiated the construction of a new city, which was then founded on January 21, 1673. This city was built on a peninsula completely isolated by the sea and a defensive system of walls. Today this place preserves the first institutions and buildings of the modern city of Panama. It is known as
Casco Viejo (Spanish for Old Town). In the 18th century this part of the city was the victim of three large fires that partially destroyed it and modified its initial structure. The current configuration dates from the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The reconstruction allows the insertion of neoclassical, Afro-Antillean buildings within the ruins and colonial buildings, which differentiates it from other old towns in cities such as
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, and
Quito, Ecuador, which have an almost exclusively colonial style. In recent years, Casco Viejo has become a tourist hotspot filled with restaurants, boutique hotels, museums and nightclubs and has experienced gentrification, while also maintaining the multiple historical sites it has to offer. ==Main sights==