Theme Week Panama – Colón
Saturday, 27 January 2018 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: South America / Südamerika General
Reading Time: 8 minutes
Cruise ship terminal Colon 2000 and Colon Free Trade Zone © flickr.com – Roger Wollstadt/cc-by-sa-2.0
🔊 Listen to this Post
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.
VIDEO
VIDEO
VIDEO
Recommended posts:
[caption id="attachment_224634" align="aligncenter" width="590"]Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah on Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin © Leonhard Lenz[/caption]
...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_26512" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Schlaier[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.
A modern reconstruction of the Gl...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_151505" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Wroclaw Panorma © Lukaszprzy[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Wrocław is the chief city in south-western Poland, situated on the River Oder (Polish: Odra). Wrocław is the former capital of Silesia and today, capital of Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Over the centuries, the city has been either part of Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia or Germany. According to official population figures for June 2009, its population is 632,000, making it the fourth largest city in Poland....
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_151800" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Stromboli Island © Steven W. Dengler[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is a corruption of the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it because of its round swelling form. The island's population is between 400 and 850. The volcano has erupted man...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_160714" align="aligncenter" width="590"] View from Monti Tuburtini © Kleuske[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Tivoli, the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italian town in Lazio, about 30 km east-north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills. The city offers a wide view over the Roman Campagna.
Tivoli's quarries produce travertine, a particular white calcium-carbonate rock used in building most Roman monuments. The water power of the falls supplies some of the e...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_153386" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Dennis Siebert/cc-by-sa-3.0-de[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Like a ship sits the six-story office building on a plot of land, 40 meters out over the river Elbe in Hamburg. It can only be reached by a large staircase on the land side, the board is open to the public, and has on top a nearly 500 square meter wide roof terrace with a good view over the harbor and the northern shoreline. It is also a popular photo opportunity due to its distinctive architecture. The ro...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_231577" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Michael C. Berch/cc-by-sa-2.5[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is a suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in the United States by the Census Bureau. Pleasanton is home to the headquarters of Safeway, Workday, Ellie Mae, Roche Molec...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_151158" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Ohrid and Lake Ohrid © flickr.com - Михал Орела/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Macedonia is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993. Macedonia is a member of the Council of Europe. Since December 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_152223" align="aligncenter" width="561"] © riga2014.org[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]
THE CITY OF RIGA
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 700,000 inhabitants, Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltic region. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga, at the mouth of the Daugava. Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanse...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_193062" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Imre Solt/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Jumeirah Beach Residence (also known as JBR) is a 1.7 kilometres (1.1mi) long, 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) gross floor area waterfront community located against the Arabian Gulf in Dubai Marina in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is a residential development and contains 40 towers (35 are residential and 5 are hotels). JBR can accommodate about 15,000 people, living in its apartments and hotel rooms. The Proje...
[ read more ]
[caption id="attachment_227750" align="aligncenter" width="590"] lit as American flag for Independence Day, President's Day & Veterans Day © Averette[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 16th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.
Built for CenT...
[ read more ]
