Colón City Map Poster

About Colón

Colón has a population of 277,079. It is the second-largest city in Panama and one of the main entry points to the country. The city is located on Manzanillo Island at . Colón has been nicknamed "The City of Bridges" due to its numerous bridges spanning several rivers that traverse through it; this earned it a nickname as "The Venice of Central America." Colon was founded by Spain as La Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de Puerto Rico ("the town/city most holy trinity port rich") and served for many years as capital for Spanish West Indies colonies until 1739 when Portobelo took over that role. In 1671, English settlers from Jamaica established their first colony in present-day Panama under James King (1630–1708), who arrived with 140 Puritan families from Bermuda aboard his ship Mary & John; they settled New Cambria near Colon's current location but were quickly driven away by tropical diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and cholera which killed half their number within six months.