{{Short description|Hill in Panama City}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Ancón Hill | other_name = | etymology = | native_name = {{native name|es|Cerro Ancón}} | translation = | pronunciation = | image = Bandera de Panamá en el Cerro Ancón.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = View of the Ancón Hill with the Panamanian flag on top. | map = Panama | map_image = | map_alt = | map_caption = | map_relief = | map_size = | location = Panama City | label = | label_position = | elevation = | elevation_m = 199 | elevation_ft = | elevation_ref = | prominence = | prominence_m = | prominence_ft = | prominence_ref = | isolation = | isolation_km = | isolation_mi = | isolation_ref = | parent_peak = | listing = | range = | coordinates = | coordinates_ref = | topo = | type = | age = | geology = | volcanic_arc = | volcanic_belt = | volcanic_field = | volcanic_arc/belt = | last_eruption = | first_ascent = | easiest_route = | normal_route = | access = | child = | embedded = }}{{More citations needed|date=August 2024}} '''Ancón Hill''' (Spanish: {{lang|es|Cerro Ancón}}) is a {{convert|199|m|ft|0}} high hill that overlooks Panama City, Panama, adjacent to the township of Ancón. It was used for administration of the Panama Canal and was under U.S. jurisdiction as a part of the Panama Canal Zone until being returned to Panama in 1977. Largely undeveloped, the area is now a reserve. The hill includes the highest point in Panama City.
Relatively undeveloped it includes a jungle in an otherwise urban area, and wildlife still survives cut off from other jungle areas. It is not uncommon to see sloths, white-nosed coati, nine-banded armadillos, Geoffroy's tamarins, or deer on Ancon Hill, which now has protected status. Its name is used as an acronym by a Panamanian environmental group, Asociación Nacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (ANCON).
The lower slopes contained residences and Gorgas Hospital. Higher up were the residence of the Governor of the Canal Zone and Quarry Heights, where the United States Southern Command was located. Quarry Heights was thus named as it is adjacent to a large rock quarry on one side of the hill, which left a visible cliff face. The hill contains an abandoned underground bunker once manned by the US Southern Command. At the top are two broadcast towers and a small road reaches them. One-way vehicular traffic is allowed during daylight hours. The summit of the hill can be reached by a 30-minute hike.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}} Hikers can use the road to reach the summit, and the hill is a popular jogging and hiking trek. Along the path, all manner of vegetation and birds can be seen.
==History== [[File:Plaque at the Top of Ancon Hill Commemorating Torrijos Carter Treaty.jpg|thumb|Plaque near the Summit of Ancon Hill commemorating the signing of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties (1977), which set the terms for the transfer of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama]] When the pirate Henry Morgan sacked Panama City in 1671, his scouts first climbed Ancon Hill to gain knowledge of the local defenses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pope |first=Dudley |title=The buccaneer king: the biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635-1688 |date=1978 |publisher=Dodd, Mead |isbn=978-0-396-07566-0 |location=New York}}</ref> Ancon Hill overlooks the site of the new city, constructed after Morgan's destruction of the old one.
The hill became part of the land taken to build the canal and a national symbol in 1906 after Amelia Denis de Icaza wrote her poem about its annexation. Today this hill still boasts a large national flag at its summit.<ref name=szok>{{cite book|last1=Szok|first1=Peter|title=Wolf tracks : popular art and re-Africanization in twentieth-century Panama|date=2012|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson|isbn=978-1617032431|page=231|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXHkAy2ZiWgC&pg=PA231}}</ref>
The first ship to officially transit the Panama Canal in 1914, {{SS|Ancon|1901|6}}, took its name from the hill and surrounding township.
When Panama regained control of the hill following the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty, one of the first things the country did was fly a large Panamanian flag atop the hill. {{commonscat|Ancon Hill}}
==See also== *Protected areas of Panama
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.chris-toone.com/blog/cerro-ancon-panama/ Cerro Ancon Guide] - how to reach the top of Cerro Ancon *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160111062505/http://havecamerawilltravel.com/ancon-hill-panama-city/ Photos of the views from Ancon Hill] *[http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080810235815/http://www.photo.net/philg/digiphotos/200401-panama-city-aerials/32.half.jpg Picture of Ancon Hill] - showing contrast between the hill and surrounding urban area. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20191201030219/http://www.cerroancon.com/ Cerro Ancon] - website dedicated to preserving Ancon Hill. (in Spanish)
{{coord|8|57|26.2|N|79|32|58.0|W|display=title|region:PA_type:mountain_source:GNS-enwiki}}
Category:Mountains of Panama Category:Panama Canal Category:Geography of Panama City