Portobelo, Panama

Portobelo (formerly Puerto Bello) is a port in Panama.

From the 16th to the 18th centuries it was an important silver-exporting port in New Granada on the Spanish Main and one of the ports on the route of the Spanish treasure fleets.

The city is also involved in one of Captain Henry Morgan's famous adventures. In 1668 Morgan led fleets of privateers against Spanish-held Puerto Principe in Cuba with the intent of uncovering any Spanish plots to invade Jamaica. This endeavour, although successful, also proved particularly brutal as it involved rape, torture, and murder on a grand scale.

On November 21st, 1739, the port was again attacked and captured by a British fleet commanded by Admiral Edward Vernon. The battle demonstrated the vulnerability of Spanish trading practices, and led to a fundamental change them. The Spanish switch from large fleets calling at few ports to small fleets trading at a wide variety of ports. They also began to travel around Cape Horn to trade on the West coast. Puerto Bello's economy was severely damaged, and did not recover until the building of the Panama Canal.

The street of Portobello Road in London is named in honour of the 1739 battle.

Portobello, Scotland is a seaside resort town, now part of Edinburgh, that got its name from a cottage built by a seaman who had served in the 1739 campaign at Puerto Bello.