Theme Week Panama – Colón

Saturday, 27 January 2018 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  4 minutes

Cruise ship terminal Colon 2000 and Colon Free Trade Zone © flickr.com - Roger Wollstadt/cc-by-sa-2.0

Cruise ship terminal Colon 2000 and Colon Free Trade Zone © flickr.com – Roger Wollstadt/cc-by-sa-2.0

Colón is a city and sea port beside the Caribbean Sea, lying near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is the capital of the Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama’s second city. Originally, it was located entirely on Manzanillo Island, surrounded by Limon Bay, Manzanillo Bay and the Folks River, but, since the disestablishment of the Panama Canal Zone, the city’s limits have been redefined to include Fort Gulick, a former U.S. Army base, as well the former Canal Zone towns of Cristobal, Margarita and Coco Solo.

The city was founded by Americans in 1850 as the Atlantic terminal of the Panama Railroad, then under construction to meet the gold rush demand for a fast route to California. For a number of years early in its history, the sizable United States émigré community called the town Aspinwall after Panama Railroad promoter William Henry Aspinwall, while the city’s Hispanic community called it Colón in honor of Christopher Columbus. The city was founded on the western end of a treacherously marshy islet known as Manzanillo Island. As part of the construction of the Panama Railroad, the island was connected to the Panamanian mainland by a causeway and part of the island was drained to allow the erection of permanent buildings. Much of the city was destroyed in the Burning of Colón during the Colombian Civil War of 1885, and again during a massive fire in 1915. The Great Colon Fire of April 13–14, 1940 destroyed one third of the city.

Hotel Washington © Daniestrada01/cc-by-sa-3.0 Statue of Christopher Columbus © Manfredwinslow Statue of Jesus Christ at the northern point of town © Manfredwinslow Colón Renovación Urbana © miviot.gob.pa Cruise ship terminal Colón 2000 © Balou46/cc-by-sa-4.0 Port of Colón © Balou46/cc-by-sa-4.0 Cruise ship terminal Colon 2000 and Colon Free Trade Zone © flickr.com - Roger Wollstadt/cc-by-sa-2.0 Panama Canal Map © Thomas Römer - Open Street Map data/cc-by-sa-2.0
<
>
Cruise ship terminal Colon 2000 and Colon Free Trade Zone © flickr.com - Roger Wollstadt/cc-by-sa-2.0
Fort De Lesseps was a small U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps fort located at the northern tip of the city. It was named after the canal developer Ferdinand de Lesseps. In 1948, the southeastern corner of Manzanillo Island was designated as the Colón Free Trade Zone. The Free Trade Zone has since been expanded through land reclamation on the Folks River and annexation of parts of France Field (now Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport) and Coco Solo. During its heyday, Colón was home to dozens of nightclubs, cabarets, and movie theaters. It was known for its citizens’ civic pride, orderly appearance, and outstanding native sons and daughters. Politically instigated riots in the 1960s destroyed the city’s municipal palace and signaled the start of the city’s decline, which was further accelerated by the military dictatorships of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega from 1968 to 1987.

A massive restoration and reconstruction project, involving parks, avenues and historic buildings and monuments, began in late 2014 and uses the hashtags #RenovaciónColón, #CiudadDeColón, #RenovationColon (Renovation of Colón) and #CityOfColon. The First Baptist Church of Colón, Panama, is one of the buildings whose renovation has been completed.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on Panama Canal Authority, Wikivoyage Colón and Wikipedia Colón. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.








Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

The Mercury City Tower in Moscow

The Mercury City Tower in Moscow

[caption id="attachment_153908" align="aligncenter" width="443"] July 2012 © Dinozaurus/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Mercury City Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Europe, currently under completion in the Moscow Internati...

[ read more ]

Klaipėda in Lithuania

Klaipėda in Lithuania

[caption id="attachment_149060" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Klaipeda Harbour © Artrix[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Klaipėda (German: Memel) is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Curonian Lagoon where it flows into th...

[ read more ]

Chrysler Building on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan

Chrysler Building on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan

[caption id="attachment_164162" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © AngMoKio/cc-by-sa-2.5[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco-style skyscraper located on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, ...

[ read more ]

White Plains in New York

White Plains in New York

[caption id="attachment_218229" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Downtown © Jawny80[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]White Plains is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. An inner suburb of New York City, it is the county s...

[ read more ]

Aachen Cathedral

Aachen Cathedral

[caption id="attachment_205384" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © CEphoto - Uwe Aranas/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Aachen Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen,Germany, and the see of the Roman Catholic Diocese o...

[ read more ]

The Camden Market in London

The Camden Market in London

[caption id="attachment_23555" align="alignleft" width="590"] Camden Lock Market © flickr.com - Duncan Harris/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Camden markets are a number of adjoining large retail markets in Camden Town near t...

[ read more ]

Orchard Road in Singapore

Orchard Road in Singapore

[caption id="attachment_221536" align="aligncenter" width="590"] ION Orchard Shopping Mall © flickr.com - Erwin Soo/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Orchard Road, often known colloquially as Orchard, is a major 2.5 km (1.6 mi)–l...

[ read more ]

Theme Week China - Tianjin

Theme Week China - Tianjin

[caption id="attachment_200959" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Ancient Culture Street entrance © William M Benson[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Tianjin, alternately romanized as Tientsin, is a coastal metropolis in northern China and o...

[ read more ]

Bydgoszcz in the northern Central Poland

Bydgoszcz in the northern Central Poland

[caption id="attachment_160981" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Former headquarters of Prussian Eastern Railway © Pit1233[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Bydgoszcz is a city located in northern Poland, on the Brda and Vistula rivers. With...

[ read more ]

The Way of St. James

The Way of St. James

[caption id="attachment_5034" align="aligncenter" width="590" caption="Ways of St. James in Western Europe © Manfred Zentgraf/CC-BY-SA"][/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Way of St. James or St. James' Way (Spanish: El Camino de Santiago...

[ read more ]

Maiden's Tower in Istanbul

Maiden's Tower in Istanbul

[caption id="attachment_243544" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Noumenon/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Maiden's Tower (Turkish: Kız Kulesi), also known as Leander's Tower (Tower of Leandros) since the Byzantine perio...

[ read more ]

The Kruger National Park

The Kruger National Park

[caption id="attachment_6687" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Pafuri Gate at the North Entrance of the Kruger Park © Entropy1963[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top