The data compiled in the book “Chiriqui: Rasgos y Semblanzas”, Remedios is the oldest of the towns in the province of Chiriqui, and according to historians, it was founded in 1589 by Captain Martín Gutierrez, receiving the name of Our Lady of the Remedies or New Town. The foundation of Remedios was carried out by order of the Governor of Veraguas, Don Pedro Riquelme.
Relevant Shopping Center of the Spanish Crown
Before it became an important town for the Spanish crown, a fire devastated the town in 1620, and for that reason it had to be moved to the vicinity of the San Felix River.
Due to its proximity to the sea and the possession of timber resources necessary to manufacture boats, Los Remedios, as it was called in those years, became an important commercial center, and constituted an obligatory passage between the city of Santiago de Veraguas and Chiriqui.
In the 17th century, Remedios was considered one of the most greatest population centers for the political, civil and religious administration of the Spanish Crown in the Isthmus of Panama.
Fall and Recovery
In 1680, a group of pirates attacked the prosperous town of Remedios, but its inhabitants bravely confronted their attackers and managed to contain the aggression. However, five years later, they were once again the target of corsair attacks, who redoubled their attack and wiped out the entire population.
Then Remedios recovered the brilliance of its early days, due to the commercial prosperity that it acquired, as a result of the gold mines called Lobaina.
Historically Productive Region
Prior to the creation of the Ngäbe Buge Comarca, Remedios was made up of the following regions: Cerro Iglesias, El Nancito, Hato Chami, Lajero and Remedios, but with the demarcation, Cerro Iglesias and Hato Chami passed to the Comarca jurisdiction.
The Remedios district is located between the San Felix and Tole in the east region of Chiriqui and produces rice, sorghum, watermelon, pumpkin, melon, bejuco beans and cattle, and in this line, it is the district with the highest density of cattle per hectare registered at the national level. In addition to these products, its inhabitants practice white shrimp and snapper fishing.
Places of interest
The sites of interest in Remedios are the historical monuments of the old town of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, such as the bells dating from 1682, the petroglyphs of Nancito, rocky bodies with carved inscriptions, (probably by Carib Indians), cattle farms and the beautiful beaches that have not yet been exploited.
The vestiges of the colonial era and the first settlements of the indigenous people are some of the attractions of the district of Remedios, in the province of Chiriqui.
