This page from a WWII-era Canal Zone photo album documents the bustling port town of Cristobal/Colon, Panama, showing cargo vessels at dock, a palm-lined commercial avenue, and the office of the Royal Netherlands Steamship Company. During World War II, the Panama Canal Zone was a critical link in Allied shipping and military logistics, and its port cities hosted shipping lines and commerce from around the world even as the region remained on alert for Axis threats to the canal. Project: 218445