Portobelo is a historic port and corregimiento in Portobelo District, Colón Province, Panama, Central America, with a population of 4,559 as of 2010. Located on the northern part of the Isthmus of Panama, it is 32 km northeast of the modern port of Colón now at the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It functions as the seat of Portobelo District. Established in 1597 during the time of the Spanish empire due to its deep natural harbor, it served as one of the two ports through which Spanish treasure was shipped from the mines of Peru back to Spain. The city was repeatedly captured by British privateers and pirates, culminating in a successful siege by the Royal Navy in 1739, during the War of Jenkin's Ear.
Its economy received a major boost in the late-19th century during the construction of the Panama Canal. In 1980, UNESCO designated the ruins of the Spanish colonial fortifications, along with nearby Fort San Lorenzo, as a World Heritage Site named "Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo".