As early as 1787, Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda attempted to interest the British in a canal project in Panama to increase trade for Britain, in exchange for military support to bolster South American independence hopes.

[2] When South American revolutionary zeal deposed Viceroyalty of New Granada Juan de la Cruz Mourgeón, he fled to Panama and was declared governor.

[6] An open meeting was held with merchants, landowners, and elites, who fearing retaliation from Spain and interruption of trade decided to join the Republic of Gran Colombia and drafted the Independence Act of Panama.

[7] In 1811, the Spanish Regency, responding to Governor Juan Antonio de la Mata's request, expanded trade freedoms, allowing Panamanian merchants to conduct business with “… ships and traders from the country, with the insurgent and rebellious colonies.”[8] Jamaica had become a vast warehouse of British manufactured goods, where Panamanian merchants eagerly sought to supply the markets of the American Pacific, given that trade with Spain had ceased.

[8] In June 1814, due to pressure from the commercial monopolies of Cádiz, the Spanish Regency revoked the decree allowing trade with the American colonies, significantly impacting legal commerce on the Isthmus, which had become a crucial hub for foreign merchandise and associated profits.