Balboa, port city in Panama and the operating headquarters for the Panama Canal. Balboa is located at the Pacific terminus of the canal, between the canal docks and Ancon Hill, and lies generally southwest of Panama City. Balboa extends south to Fort Amador on a peninsula filled with materials dredged from Gaillard Cut (formerly Culebra) during the construction of the canal. The Peruvian minister to Panama suggested its name. He proposed that the southern terminal city should honor the first European to see the Pacific Ocean, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, just as Colón at the northern end honors the first European to see the Americas, Christopher Columbus.
Until 1979 Balboa was a part of the former Panama Canal Zone and was under the direct control of the United States government. It was one of the zone's two commercial centers, the other being San Cristóbal, which is located on the Atlantic side next to Colón. Features of Balboa include tropical gardens, the wooden houses built for civilian personnel, several recreational centers, and the Gorgas Hospital. Balboa Heights was the former headquarters of the governor of the Canal Zone. Population (1990) 1,214.
