Ancón, Panama

In a nutshell

Ancón is a corregimiento in Panamá District, Panamá Province, Panama with a population of 29,761 as of 2010. Its population as of 1990 was 11,518; its population as of 2000 was 11,169. It is sometimes considered a suburb or small town within Panama City, northeast of the limits of the town of Balboa. Ancon Hill is also the name of a large hill that overlooks Panama City and once served as a form of protection from pirates and sea invasion. The township was originally located around this hill, and was created to house employees of the Panama Canal during its construction. As part of the construction effort, the historic Gorgas Army Hospital was founded and built on the hillside. The first ship to officially transit the canal, SS Ancon, was named after the district. The community continued to serve as housing for employees of the Panama Canal Company until 1980, when parts of it began to be turned over to the Panamanian government under the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties. Modern-day Ancón is a corregimiento (the Panamanian equivalent of a suburb in the United States) of Panama City, serving mainly as a residential area. The Gorgas Army Hospital building is now the Panamanian Oncology Hospital, primarily used for cancer research. The area also houses Panama's Supreme Court, just a few feet away from the Gorgas Army Hospital building, and several Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute buildings for research into tropical biology. Ancón is also a parish (parroquia) of the District of Panama, located in the Panama Canal adjacent area.

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History

The area where the district of Ancón is located was always conceived as a place of transit. From the Spanish arrival on the Isthmus of Panama in 1501, it was thought to build there a road between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, an idea that was materialized with the construction of the Panama Canal.

During the years when the Panama Canal was under the control of the United States, many administrative facilities, military bases, and communities were built in the adjacent areas, forming part of the former Panama Canal Zone. When these areas were reverted to Panama under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, several alternatives were proposed to integrate the district to the city of Panama. The current district of Ancón was created when a new political-administrative division for the reverted areas was adopted, by Act No. 18 of August 29, 1979, and later amended by Law No. 1 of October 27, 1982. The areas located in the Pacific sector became part of this district, while those located on the Atlantic side were incorporated into the district of Cristobal, in the province of Colon. They remain characterized by a strong US urban architectural style.

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