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U. S. notes are normally the official currency in Panama. The only Panama notes
were issued under the Government of President Arnulfo Arias, thus known as the
"Arias" issue. These notes circulated for only 6 days. When the Government was
overthrown, the notes were recalled and most were destroyed.
Front: Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1475-1519), Spanish Conquistador and Explorer
Balboa was born in Estremadura, Spain. He was poor and uneducated. In 1501
he joined an expedition to explore the northern coast of present-day
Colombia. Later he settled in a new Spanish colony, Santa Maria de la Antigua,
in present-day Panama. In 1511 the king appointed Balboa interim governor.
He was appointed supreme commander of the colony in 1513. The same year he
organized an expedition in search of a great body of water that he had heard
about from the natives. He found the Pacific Ocean, the first European to
see it from the Americas. Upon his return to the colony, he found the king
had appointed a new governor who disliked him. He was falsely accused of
treason, convicted and decapitated in 1519.
Back: Coat of arms
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