Colón () is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. The capital is the city of Colón. It covers an area of 4,575.5 sq.km, and the latest estimate of population (for 2019) is 294,060.Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censo, Panama.

Overview

This province has traditionally been focused on commerce (through the Colón Free Zone,

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...

, and its banking activities), but also has natural resources that are being developed as a tourist attraction, such as

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secre ...

reefs A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock o ...

and rainforests. During the

Spanish colonial period Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, the Colon region of Panama was the center of trade, commerce, and overall economy for the Spanish. They imported many black African slaves to this area to work in Panama and to ship to other Spaniard colonies. Most of the black population in Panama is centered in the Province of Colon. Panama has two distinct groups of black people. The first and earliest black people were those who came as slaves as early as the fifteenth century, through much of the nineteenth century. They are of mixed African and Spanish descent. This group is known as Cimarrones, Afro Colonials, Nativos, Playeros, Congos. These terms have proven crucial in establishing that these are the first and original black people of the Republic of Panama. Afro Colonials have held on to their culture and adopted Hispanic customs, traits, and cultures. They took and assumed Spanish names and surnames. They also developed the beginning of Panama's black population and culture, in pure and mixed forms. They have been incorporated into Panamanian and Spanish-speaking society, as a result. In the nineteenth century, beginning as early as the 1840s, black people from the Caribbean and West Indies immigrated to Panama to assist to build the Panama Railway and the

. Later many black people from all over the Caribbean and West Indies, especially from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

and

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate ...

, settled here between the years of 1880 and 1906 to build the Panama Canal. Many later settled in the Colon Province. This group of Caribbean and/or West Indian origin are called Afro Antillanos by the Hispanic Panamanians. They have assimilated to the

Hispanic culture The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties form ...

and Panama as well as holding on to aspects of their descent and culture. They have influenced the cuisine and music of Panama. Most importantly, their influence on music, especially from those of Jamaican descent invented and created

Reggae en Español In Panama, dancehall reggae sung in Spanish language by artists of Latin American origin is known as ''Reggae en Español'' (in English, Spanish reggae). It originated in the late 1980s in Panama. ''Reggae en Español'' goes by several names; ...

Administrative divisions

Since the creation of Omar Torrijos Herrera District in 2018, Colón Province is divided into six districts (''distritos'') which are subdivided into 42 '' corregimientos''. ¹ - These ''corregimientos'' make up Colón City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colon Province Provinces of Panama