The population is estimated to have been around two million people, who were mainly engaged in fishing, hunting, and gathering, corn, pumpkin, and root crops.
The first European settlement, Santa Maria la Antigua del Darién, was funded in 1510 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa. It was the first city founded by the conquistadors in continental America.
The settlement was abandoned in 1519 when Pascual de Andagoya, a Spanish-Basque conquistador under Panamanian Governor Pedrarias Dávila, founded the city of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Panamá (today’s Panama City), the first European settlement on the Pacific coast.
In 1524, the abandoned Santa Maria la Antigua del Darién was attacked and burned by the indigenous population. In 2012, archaeologists discovered this lost city.
