Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Panama: 'The Capture of Puerto Bello, 21 November 1739'. Oil on canvas painting by George Chambers Senior (1803-1840), 1838.<br/><br/>

Portobello was founded in 1597 by Spanish explorer Francisco Velarde y Mercado. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth 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. It was attacked on November 21, 1739, and captured by a British fleet, commanded by Admiral Edward Vernon during the War of Jenkins' Ear.
Portobello was founded in 1597 by Spanish explorer Francisco Velarde y Mercado. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth 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. It was attacked on November 21, 1739, and captured by a British fleet, commanded by Admiral Edward Vernon during the War of Jenkins' Ear. The British victory created an outburst of popular acclaim throughout the British Empire, and many streets and settlements in the British Isles and the Thirteen Colonies were named Portobello such as the Portobello Road in London.