In 1519, Pedrarias the Cruel officially founded the City of Panama. It is said that the name Panama was derived from the Indian word for 'many fish'. It was a wealthy and highly successful little town (it was, in fact, one of the three richest towns in the [G 12 / New World]), and it was not long before a survey for a canal was undertaken in 1534 from the City of Panama to Nombre de Dios, a Spanish port on the Caribbean. The king of Spain eventually decided against the idea of joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and instead a road was built between the two cities. After much consultation with religious leaders, he decided that God had made the decision to separate the two oceans and therefore felt it unnecessary to link them.
