Colón (City, Panama)
| Colón | |
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Coordinates: 9 ° 21 ′ N , 79 ° 54 ′ W
Colón on the map of Panama
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| Basic data | |
| Country |
 Panama
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| province | Colón |
| City foundation | 1850 |
| Residents | 78,000 (2016) |
| - in the metropolitan area | 206,553 |
| Detailed data | |
| height | 0 m |
| Waters | Atlantic Ocean , Panama Canal |
| Time zone | UTC -5 |
| Website | |
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Colón is a port city on the Caribbean coast of the Central American state of Panama with 78,000 inhabitants (2016 census).
It is the capital of the eponymous province of Colón with 206,553 inhabitants (2016 census). Colón is located at the Atlantic access to the Panama Canal .
history
The city was founded in 1850 at the end of the Panama Railroad on Manzanillo Island. In the United States , the city was named after the financier of the Panama Canal William Henry Aspinwall Aspinwall called while the Hispanic community it after the Spanish name for Christopher Columbus Colón called.
In 1885 the city was the victim of a major fire in the Colombian civil war . There was also a major fire in 1915.
In 1900 the population was 3,000 people. Subsequently, the population increased due to the construction of the Panama Canal . In 1920 it was 31,203 people.
Colón was separated from the American Panama Canal Zone in 1950 and handed over to Panama. The city formed an enclave within the Panama Canal Zone from 1950 to 1999 . In 1953 a free trade zone was set up. T. is in the hands of Arab merchants. At the end of the 1960s there was an economic decline, which led to the impoverishment of large parts of the population and the decline of entire city districts. The population continues to decline and attempts at renovation have failed.
On December 15, 1988, Pope John Paul II established the Roman Catholic diocese of Colón .
economy
Colón is an important port and trading center as well as a tourist destination at the canal locks. In 1953, Colón became a free port / free trade zone , with the port taking second place in the world. Even so, Colon’s economy has deteriorated since the late 1960s . Many of the traditional jobs in the port disappeared with the switch to freight containers . Nowadays the unemployment rate is approx. 40%; the poverty rate is even higher. Colón is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world and many travel guides advise against visiting the city for this reason.
Town twinning
- Mandeville , Louisiana, USA
- Santos , Sao Paulo, Brazil
sons and daughters of the town
- Big Fletchit (1916–1983), jazz drummer
- Robert Mavounzy (1917–1974), jazz musician
- Demetrio Basilio Lakas (1925–1999), 35th President of Panama
- Billy Cobham (born 1944), jazz drummer
- Rómulo Emiliani Sánchez (* 1948), Roman Catholic clergyman, auxiliary bishop emeritus in San Pedro Colon
- Jorge Sylvester (* 1954), jazz saxophonist
- Julio César Dely Valdés (* 1967), football player and coach
- Guillermo Jones (born 1972), boxer
- Manuel Alcides Acosta (* 1981), baseball player
- Irving Saladino (born 1983), track and field athlete
- Armando Cooper (* 1987), Panamanian soccer player
Web links
- Official Website (Spanish)
- Colon City ( Memento from October 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Map of the Colón enclave ( Memento of the original from November 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Be careful in Colón
