Royal Veragua (Spanish: Veragua Real) was a Central American territory of the Crown of Castile established in 1537. It encompassed the western part of the former Gobernación de Veragua (1508–1537), from the Caribbean slopes from the Río Sixaola (the present boundary with Costa Rica) to the island Escudo de Veraguas, in what is now Panama. The eastern part was named the Duchy of Veragua and controlled by the heirs of Christopher Columbus. Royal Veragua lasted for only three years before being incorporated into the new Province of Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica in November 1540, while the Duchy was sold back by Columbus' heirs in 1556 to the Crown and became Veraguas Province in 1560.[1]