Santiago de Veraguas is the capital of the province of Veraguas, and the district or municipality of the same name. Located in the countryside on the banks of the Pan-American Highway. Bounded on the north by San Francisco District, south with the District of Montijo, east District of Atalaya and west by the District of La Mesa. The population of the city of Santiago is at 90,000.
Santiago was founded by the people of Montijo and Santa Fe in the 17th century, who gathered in this place, decided to found a city that served as the starting center dispatches. It was established south of the Martin Grande river commonly called Los Chorros. Santiago did not exist in 1606 when the Bishop of Panama, Don Antonio Calderon, wrote his account of the peoples who formed the Province of Veragua. The Santa Fe (the oldest), San Pedro del Montijo, Atalaya, Nuestra Señora de Remedios and Alanje. The chronicler Juan Diez De La Calle in his “Collection of Documents of the Civil and Ecclesiastical History of America”, states that the “city of Santiago de Veragua was founded on October 23, 1621.” The writer gave an account where they made known Indian cities and towns of the kingdom of Tierra Firme. Other evidence about the existence of the old city of Santiago, as it is called in contemporary documents providing information about his transfer in 1637, come from other valuable references and unpublished documents. So there are two well-defined moments in the pages of the story of Santiago, the city of Santiago de Veragua the old October 23, 1621 and the new 1637. Mario Molina: Veraguas, Land of Columbus and Urraca, 2008. Upon termination definitely the Court of the Audiencia of Panama by the Royal Decree of June 20, 1751, the country was ruled by a military government under the name of General Command of the mainland, which included the province of Veraguas. On November 28, 1821 was proclaimed in Panama City, Panama Independence from Spain, on 4 December of that same year in the city of Santiago was proclaimed the Independence of the Veraguas province of Spanish power. On November 9, 1903 at 3:30 pm, in the city, signed the Act of Accession to the separation of Panama from Colombia.
Santiago’s economy is based on trade, banking, agriculture and livestock. To a lesser degree in the pottery industry, in towns like La Peña, and leatherworking at La Colorada. The city of Santiago has 2000 rooms in hotels, pensions and temporary apartments.
Like other cities in the interior of the Republic of Panama, Santiago is a city without high buildings, but edifies of great historical value as Juan Demostenes Arosemena Normal School, Santiago Apostol Cathedral, The Museum, as well as more modern buildings. Although skyscrapers are no longer great works of architecture, we can mention the Omar Torrijos Herrera stadium with capacity for 7,000 spectators, the Hotel Gran David and Hotel Mykonos, Global Bank, the Public Registry, Shopping Center Galeria, the Transport Terminal, Convention Center Coopeve etc. There is also a large government-owned hospital, Luis “Chicho” Fábrega, and a major government family practice, Policlinica Horacio Díaz Gómez.
