The city was founded on 15 August 1519, by Pedro Arias de Ávila, also known as Pedrarias Dávila. Within a few years of its founding, the city became a launching point for the exploration and conquest of Peru and a transit point for gold and silver headed back to Spain through the Isthmus. In 1520, Genoese merchants controlled the port and the commerce of the region, mainly for the slave trade, thanks to a concession given by the Spaniards, who had the Republic of Genoa as its main banking base. In 1671 Henry Morgan with a band of 1400 men attacked and looted the city, which was subsequently destroyed by fire. The ruins of the old city still remain and are a popular tourist attraction known as Panamá Viejo (Old Panama). The city was rebuilt in 1673 in a new location approximately  southwest of the original city. This location is now known as the Casco Viejo (Old Quarter) of the city. Panama City is the fourth earliest-founded of the modern-day capital cities in the Americas.