Panama hat mountain range. Hat weaving and wearing grew steadily in Ecuador through the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1835, Manuel Alfaro, a man who in many ways can be considered the grandfather of the Panama hat, arrived in Montecristi to make his name and fortune in Panama hats. He set up a Panama hat business with his main objective being exportation. Cargo ships from Guayaquil and Manta were filled with his merchandise and headed to the Gulf of Panama. His business prospered as more and more Gold Rush prospectors arrived and passed through Panama needing a hat for the sun. One
Hats (party) was bolstered up for another four years. But the day of reckoning could not be postponed forever; and when the estates met in 1765 the Hats were comprehensively removed from power. The leader of the Caps, Ture Rudbeck, was elected marshal of the Diet over Frederick Axel von Fersen, the Hat candidate, by a large majority; and, out of the hundred seats in the secret committee, the Hats succeeded in getting only ten. The Hats returned briefly to power in the Riksdag of 1769, but were soon once again defeated by the Caps. Against a backdrop of Russian encroachment, King