Gamboa, Panama

Gamboa, Panama
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FACHADA_FILIAL_GAMBOA.JPG
Author: CLAUDIO DE CASTRO


Gamboa is one of the Canal Zone towns in Panama. Named after a tree of the quince family, Gamboa serves as a bedroom community for workers of the Panama Canal. The town is on a sharp bend of the Chagres River, where it empties into Lake Gatun. The lake connects to the Panama Canal at the Gaillard Cut which passes through the Continental Divide.

Although the Gamboa area has had a village since the 19th century, the town itself was only established in 1911, when the Canal was under construction. Its early inhabitants were the non-American employees of the Panama Canal Company. It was only when the company shifted its Dredging Division to the town that American expatriates began settling there.

The disestablishment of the Canal Zone brought a decline to the town, reflected in the closure of many of its public venues. Today the town is just a shadow of its former self, a remnant of a more glorious past.

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