History of Uncultivated Land Allocations in the Golfo de Montijo s’ Islands (19th-20th centuries)

Abstract

An analysis of historical documents elevated to Public Deeds during the Neogranadine Period and the Early Republic where the allocations of large tracts of land located in the Islands of the Gulf of Montijo, south of the Province of Veraguas, are studied and contextualized from a legal perspective, a geographical area poor in terms of documentary history. The ancient nexus with the Colombian-Panamanian power groups, and how, through the analysis of 19th-century Colombian norms, access to vacant lands throughout the Colombian State was facilitated, permitted, and given to them in order to consolidate future large estates that survived in these family groups after the Segregation of the Isthmus from the Republic of Colombia in 1903. The contractual means by which the Panamanian State acquired ownership of these large tracts of island land are studied. This verifies the legal and historical value of these documents, registered in the Public Registry of Panama for over 100 years. Some of them date back much further than the institution's creation, rendering them invaluable. Their preservation is vital to understanding the wealth movements of Panamanian and Colombian elites on the Isthmus of Panama. Analysis of archaic units of measurement, legal tender in 19th-century Panama, and figures who played key roles in political, social, economic, and military activities in that Colombian state embroiled in major political and social conflicts.