Theme Week Panama – Colón
Saturday, 27 January 2018 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: South America / Südamerika General
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Cruise ship terminal Colon 2000 and Colon Free Trade Zone © flickr.com – Roger Wollstadt/cc-by-sa-2.0
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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.
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 -
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center -
Global Passport Power Rank -
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.
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