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COLON (formerly known as ASPINWALL)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 714 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COLON (formerly known as ASPINWALL)  , a See also:city of the See also:Republic of See also:Panama, on the See also:Atlantic See also:coast, in the See also:Bay of See also:Limon, and 47 M. by See also:rail N.W. of the city of Panama . Pop . (1908) about 3000, consisting largely of See also:Jamaica negroes and natives of mixed See also:Spanish, See also:Indian and See also:African descent . It is served by the Panama railway, which crosses the See also:Isthmus of Panama from ocean to ocean . See also:Colon has a deep, though poorly sheltered See also:harbour, and is either the See also:terminus or a See also:place of See also:call for seven lines of steamships . It thus serves as an entrep6t for much of the See also:commerce between Atlantic and Pacific ports, and between the interior towns of Central and See also:South See also:America and the cities of See also:Europe and the See also:United States . The city lies on the See also:west See also:side of the See also:low See also:island of See also:Manzanillo, is bordered on the landward sides by swamp, and consists mainly of unimposing See also:frame houses and small shops . The most attractive parts are the See also:American See also:quarter, where the employes of the Panama railway have their homes, and the old See also:French quarter, where dwelt the French See also:officers during their efforts to build the See also:canal . In this last See also:district, near the mouth of the old canal, stands a See also:fine statue of See also:Christopher See also:Columbus, the See also:gift of the empress See also:Eugenie in 1870 . Here also stands the See also:mansion erected and occupied by See also:Ferdinand de See also:Lesseps during his See also:residence on the isthmus . With the exception of railway shops, there are no important See also:industrial establishments . Colon See also:dates its origin from the See also:year 1850, when the island of Manzanillo was selected as the Atlantic terminus of the Panama railway .

The See also:

settlement was at first called Aspinwall, in See also:honour of See also:William H . Aspinwall (1807-1875), one of the builders of the railway; but some years afterwards its name was changed by legislative enactment to Colon, in honour of Christopher Columbus, who entered Limon Bay in 1502 . The See also:original name, however, survived among the See also:English-speaking inhabitants for many years after this See also:change . With the completion of the railway in 1855, the See also:town supplanted See also:Chagres (q.v.) as the See also:principal Atlantic See also:port of the isthmus . Later it acquired increased importance through its selection by de Lesseps as the site for the Atlantic entrance to his canal . During the revolution of 1885 it was partly burned and was rebuilt on a somewhat larger See also:plan . As the city has always been notoriously unhealthful, the United States, on undertaking the construction of the Panama Canal (q.v.), became interested in preventing its becoming a centre of infection for the Canal See also:Zone, and by the treaty of See also:November 1903 secured See also:complete See also:jurisdiction in the city and harbour over all matters See also:relating to sanitation and See also:quarantine, and engaged to construct a See also:system of waterworks and sewers in the See also:municipality, which had been practically completed in 1907 . The United States See also:government has also opened a port at Cristobal, within the Canal Zone .

End of Article: COLON (formerly known as ASPINWALL)
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