Leon Viejo is one of the old­est Span­ish colo­nial set­tle­ments in the Amer­i­c­as. It did not devel­op and so its ruins are out­stand­ing tes­ti­mo­ny to the social and eco­nom­ic struc­tures of the Span­ish Empire in the 16th cen­tu­ry. More­over, the site has immense archae­o­log­i­cal poten­tial.