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The strategic location of the Isthmus of Panama within the commercial network of the Spanish Empire and the need to defend it has greatly influenced historical writing on sixteenth-and seventeenthcentury Panama. Most studies have emphasized military and economic history and with few exceptions, have shown little interest in other aspects of Panamanian life. An excellent review of the historical literature on colonial Panama can be found in Christopher Ward, Imperial Panama: Commerce and Conflict in Isthmian America, 1550-1800 (Albuquerque, 1993). Despite a continuing emphasis on the usual themes of trade and defense, there is a growing trend to focus on other topics such as population movements and social classes. One of the areas still awaiting further investigation and study is the history of the cimarrons of Panama. The two principal primary sources for the role of the cimarrons are the collections of documents from the Archive General de Indias in Seville published by Irene Wright and Carol F. Jopling, respectively. Wright's Documents Concerning the English Voyages to the Spanish Main, 1569-1580 (London, 1932) contains the correspondence of Spanish officials on the Isthmus to the king relating to the activities of the English pirates and their alliance with the cimarrons. Jopling's Indios y negros en Panamá en los siglos XVI y XVII (South Woodstock, Vermont, 1994) is a selection of documents dealing specifically with the history of the blacks and Indians and contains a wealth of information about the cimarrons. Among the early writers, the chronicle of Pedro de Aguado is of particular value for its rich account of the cimarron king Bayano. The writings of María del Carmen Mena García, especially her volume on La sociedad de Panama en el siglo XVI (Seville, 1984) presents a thorough overview of Isthmian society with several chapters devoted to the black population and the cimarrons. Two other earlier informative studies are Federico Guillot, Negros rebeldes y negros cimarrones (Buenos Aires, 1961), and Armando Fortune, "Los negros cimarrones en Tierra Firme y su lucha por la libertad," Revista Loteria (1970). Another valuable contribution is an article by Enriqueta Vila Vilar, "Cimarronaje en Panamá y Colombia. El costo de una guerrilla en el siglo XVII," Caravelle (1987).
In the sixteenth century there were two principal Spanish settlements on the...