Ancón | Beach Town, Pacific Coast, Caribbean Sea | Britannica (original) (raw)

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Ancón, city, central Panama, just northeast of Balboa city and adjacent to Panama City. It is a residential centre, and its population has increased dramatically since 2000.

As Balboa and Panama City have grown, Ancón has become virtually a suburb of the latter. It was noted for the Gorgas Hospital for tropical diseases, named for Col. William Crawford Gorgas (U.S. Army surgeon who eradicated yellow fever from what was then the Canal Zone); the hospital closed and became a clinic. Ancón is also the site of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (established 1923), a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution focused on researching and promoting tropical biology. It is on the Panama Canal Railway (formerly the Panama Railroad). Pop. (2000) 11,169; (2010) 29,761.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kenneth Pletcher.