On 25 September 1513, a force of weary Spanish explorers cut through the forests of panama and were confronted by an ocean: the mar del sur, or the pacific ocean. Six years later the spaniards had established the town of...On 25 September 1513, a force of weary Spanish explorers cut through the forests of panama and were confronted by an ocean: the mar del sur, or the pacific ocean. Six years later the spaniards had established the town of panama as a base from which to explore and exploit this unknown sea.