Colon Street (, , ; , ) is a historical street in
Cebu City
Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making ...
. Located in the city's downtown, Colon Street is often called the oldest and shortest national road in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. It is named after Cristóbal Colón (
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
). Built in 1565, the street traces its origins to
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
conquistador
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...
who arrived in the Philippines to establish a colony in the 16th century and eventually developed the street under his leadership.
Colon, crowded and a bit run-down now, was the site of fashionable shops, offices, and movie houses. It was once the heart of Cebu City's shopping and business activity. Beginning in the early 1990s, much of this activity has shifted to the more modern, bigger, and diverse commercial and business districts now spread in almost all of the urban areas of Cebu in what was considered residential and leisure settlements.
In 2006, the
Cebu City Council
The Cebu City Council (Filipino language, Filipino: Sangguniang Panlungsod ng Cebu) is the legislature of Cebu City, Philippines. The legislative body is composed of 18 councilors, with 16 councilors elected from Cebu City's two Legislative dis ...
proposed a plan to close parts of Colon Street from vehicular traffic and convert it into a tourism zone. However, this proposal received opposition from businessmen and motorists due to concerns about security and parking spaces.
In 2007, the Colon Night Market, which aims to revive Colon as a vibrant commercial hub, was launched. The
night market
Night markets or night bazaars ( zh, 夜市) are street markets which operate at night and are generally dedicated to more leisurely strolling, shopping, and eating than more businesslike day markets. The culture of night markets originates from C ...
runs multiple times throughout the year, most notably during the
Filipino Christmas season from September to December until the
Sinulog
The Sinulog Festival (also known as Sinug and Sulog) is an annual Filipino cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu, with the center of the activities being in Cebu City; and is the core of Santo Niño Chr ...
celebrations in January of the following year. Since its launch, the night market has run yearly with the exemption of 2020 and 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
Historical dispute
While Colon Street has long been recognized as the oldest street in the Philippines, this claim is being challenged. Historians point out that no document or map confirms the construction of Colon Street during the initial period of the Spanish era in the Philippines. The earliest map indicating the presence of Colon Street was dated 1873.
The origin of Colon Street, being labeled as the oldest street in the Philippines, can be traced back to 1910. During that time,Cebu-based shop American Bazar sold a postcard showing a section of Colon Street with a label "Oldest Street in Cebu". A few years later, photo studio L.G. Joseph printed a postcard of the same street, this time with the label “Oldest Street in the Philippines”. The claim gained further traction in 1933, when the American Express Company added this information to their first ever guidebook of the Philippines.
See also
*
Calle Escolta
Escolta Street () is a historic east–west street in the old downtown district of Binondo in Manila, Philippines. It runs parallel to the Pasig River from Quintin Paredes Road ( Plaza Moraga) to Plaza Santa Cruz Road ( Plaza Lacson). The stree ...
, a historic street in Manila, Philippines
*
Calle Real, a historic street in Iloilo City, Philippines
References
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Streets in Cebu City