El Cristo is a town in the Coclé Province of Panama, one of the oldest towns in the region. First, in pre-Columbian times it was inhabited by an aboriginal community for a period of several centuries. According to studies by the archaeologist Cook, this community is similar to the pre-Columbian site of the Sierra at the edge of Santa Maria. Later, in colonial times, the history of El Cristo goes back to the founding of Nata, by which time El Cristo was a cattle farm of the Spanish. The town possesses a Christmas Tree, renowned for being the highest in Central America.[citation needed]