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Panama's
Indigenous People - The People of the Darien & San Blas
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Kuna,
Emberá, Choco, Bribri, Bugle, Ngobe, Teribe & Wounaan
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| Have you heard of the San Blas
Islands? I hadn’t, until I arrived in Panama. “Untouched”, “idyllic”,
“unique”, “colourful”, “cultural” “spiritual”... all words I kept hearing
to describe this chain of islands. Tempting, to say the least. |
| You can literally island hop
all the way to Colombia, passing approximately 400 islands en route |
| After being on the Pacific side
of Panama, we were curious of what lay beyond it, on ‘the other side’,
known as the Caribbean Atlantic side. |
| What’s there is the Archipelago
de San Blas which sounded to us like a paradise favoured by sailors because
you can literally island hop all the way to Colombia, passing approximately
400 islands en route. |
| The area is made up of three regions,
including the 'Comarca de Kuna Yala' which is made up of the San Blas islands
and also the coastline of Panama from Colon to almost the Colombian border. |
| Indigenous Kuna Indians live on
these islands and coastline. They have a simple economy based on agriculture,
fishing and more recently, tourism. Their diet consists primarily of plantains,
coconuts and fish. - The
Islands of San Blas - by Jennifer Paton |
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| Chief Antonio Zarco is only an
inch or two over five feet tall but very muscular, with thick deltoids
and powerful arms and skin the color and apparent texture of polished mahogany.
He is physically imposing well beyond his size. He has, besides, a compelling
moral authority. One senses an inner soundness, an absence of flaw, just
as one notes an absence of affectation. He is what is called in Spanish
"a serious man," a person who cannot be taken lightly. |
| I recently spent some time with
him in the jungle, mostly in the area around his current home, behind Gamboa
in the center of the Isthmus of Panama, near where the Chagres River empties
into the Canal. Below Madden Dam, the Chagres broadens into an almost currentless
lagoon lying at a right angle to the waterway. Zarco's house is a three-quarter-mile
paddle across the southwest corner of it from the landing below Gamboa
Golf Course. Inshore, the lagoon is matted just below the surface with
dark-green weed. |
| Starting in the early 1960s, astronauts of
the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and space-station programs were trained at
the school. |
| Between 1962 and 1975, when the
Tropic Survival School closed, more than 11,000 students came under Zarco's
tutelage: officers and men of the U.S. Air Force, of other U.S. services,
of the armed forces of allied countries; ambassadors, embassy staff, civilian
scientists. Starting in the early 1960s, astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini,
Apollo, and space-station programs were trained at the school. - Master
Of Survival - Chief Antonio Zarco Of The Choco Indians Of Panama - By R.M.
Koster |
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Location of Panama
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Flag of Panama
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| Official Name: República
de Panamá |
| Area: 75,517 sq km (29,157
sq mi) |
| Population: 3,232,000 |
| Geographic coordinates: 9
00 N, 80 00 W |
| Currency: Balboa (B/.1 =
US$ 1) US dollar |
| Form of Goverment: Constitutional
democracy |
| GDP - per capita (PPP): $11,900
(2008 est.) |
| Provinces: Nine provinces,
three
comarcas [?] |
| Language: Spanish (official),
English (14%) and indigenous Indian languages |
| Freedom House Panama Rating: |
| Political Rights Score: 1 |
| Civil Liberties Score: 2 |
| Status: Free |
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Freedom
House ranks nations on a scale from 1 to 7 [ 1 being the most
free, 7 the least free.]
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San
Blas Kunas
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| Panama:
Kuna Tribe and Ecoturism |
| Tourism is
an attractive source of income because it brings revenue to build and improve
education and health in the community. This source of income is particularly
important to indigenous groups throughout Latin America because they generally
represent the poorest members of society. |
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| Escape
By Sail To The San Blas Islands Of Panama |
| In San Blas
there are a number of well-known beauty spots where the boats regularly
stay for the night. Dinner parties and conversations late into the
night are common. Although you don’t need to spend your evenings
like this, it is a great way to meet people and find out what brought them
to the islands. |
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| Kuna
Yala |
| Kuna Yala
inhabited by the Kuna indigenous people. The name means "Kuna-land" or
"Kuna mountain" in the Kuna language. The area was formerly known as San
Blas. The capital of Kuna Yala is El Porvenir. [From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia] |
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| Kuna
Indians in San Blas Island |
| Kuna, also
known among themselves as the Tule, Native South American group of the
Chibchan language family and of Panama. They now inhabit part of the country's
northern shore and the neighboring San Blas Archipelago. In former times
the Kuna occupied the greater part of the Isthmus of Panama. Cases of hereditary
albinism among the Kuna have given rise to legends of white Native Americans. |
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| Panama
Mola |
| Molas are
part of the traditional dress of Kuna Indians of Panama and are worn by
the women on the back and on the front side of their blouse. Together with
the blue print cotton skirts, the red and orange head scarves and the characteristic
glass bead strings on wrists and ankles they represent the traditional
dress of the Kuna women. |
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| Indigenuous
People Of Panama - The Kuna |
| History, Culture
and Lifestyle, Cultural Preservation Efforts (and Human Rights), assessments
of Eco-Tourism and Local Guides and Photo Gallery. |
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| Kuna
Yala Molas Gallery |
| Handmade molas
from Panama. |
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| Kuna
Molas & Gifts From the San Blas Island |
| by Mola Girl. |
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| The
Kuna Indians: A Quick History |
| History, Organization
in Daily Life and much more. |
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| Kuna
Language |
| Cuna (Kuna)
language. Language Lessons and Linguistic Descriptions. |
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| The
Art of Being Kuna |
| The Kuna Indians
are indigenous to Panama and may well be the remaining vestige of the Carib
strain that once inhabited the north coasts of South America and parts
of the Caribbean. |
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| Darien
[Emberá, Choco, Bribri, Bugle, Ngobe, Teribe and Wounaan] |
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| Master
Of Survival - Chief Antonio Zarco Of The Choco Indians Of Panama |
| I used to
mess in U.S. politics, and in 1982 I found myself having breakfast in Philadelphia
with John Glenn and some other politicians. I told Glenn, “We have a mutual
friend, Tony Zarco.” For the next twenty minutes we listened to Zarco stories.
It pleases me that a man who didn’t understand elevators could make a lasting
impression on a man who had traveled in space. |
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| Amazing
Short Hops From Panama City: Rest And Relax Near The City |
| As the “piragua”
arrived at the village shore, the sky looked threatening and a short tropical
rain started, but that didn’t stop the women and children from greeting
us warmly with live music and dancing. They had amazing fresh bright red
flowers in their hair and covered their heads with huge platano leaves
to protect them from rain – an unforgettable entrance! We climbed up a
little muddy mountain -- following a thonged bottom up the hill of the
rain forest and there it was -- their little community right there in Chagres
River! A whole new world was revealed to us: Simple hand built straw huts
on stilts, one big straw hut which was used for meetings and community
gatherings, an eating place and an incredible forest full of natural medicinal
plants which alternative medicine therapists would die for. |
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| Darien
[Emberá, Choco, Bribri, Bugle, Ngobe, Teribe and Wounaan] |
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| Who
are the Wounaan? |
| The Wounaan
are one of seven indigenous peoples (Bribri, Bugle, Embera, Kuna, Ngobe,
Teribe and Wounaan) who live within the Republic of Panama. One of the
smallest indigenous groups in Panama, the majority of the 6,800 Wounaan
live in the Darien, Panama's largest and wildest province. In the Darien
province most Wounaan live in small communities, located within and outside
the two Embera-Wounaan comarcas, which are indigenous provinces with special
indigenous, democratic administrations. They also live in and around Panama
City and other increasingly urban neighborhoods along the Pan American
Highway, and in three villages in the East Panama Province along the Pacific
Ocean coast foothills of the Maje Mountain Range. |
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| Wounaan
Tagua Nut Carvings |
| The tagua
nut, also known as vegetable ivory, comes from several species of rain
forest palm. The carvings usually depict the birds and animals of
the Darién Rainforest. One tagua nut carving is approximately
the size of an egg. |
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| Encounter
The Emberá Wounaan |
| Ethnic indigenous
peoples of Panama that are often thought to inhabit only the Darien province. |
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| Arpio
Arte |
| Traditional
Wounaan Indigenous Art from Panama. |
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| Art
Of Discovery |
| The Wounaan
and Embera People and Their Baskets. |
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| Emberá
Drua |
| A small indigenous
community of less than 70 individuals in the Republic of Panama |
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| Fundacion
Darien |
| Working for
Native Peoples at the Nexus of the Americas. |
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| The
Emberá Wounaan Indigenous People |
| Indigenous
People of Panama and Colombia. |
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| Time
among the Emberá |
| In Panama’s
jungles, a native people cling to an ancient way of life. |
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Comarcas -
Comarcas indígenas de Panamá
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| Comarcas: There are three
major Indian groups in Panama: the Kunas on the San Blas Islands off the
Caribbean coast, the Emberá in the province of Darien, and the Guaymies
in Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro, and Veraguas provinces. There are also
Teribe and Bokota Indians in Boca del Toro and Waunaans in Darien. To a
large degree the indigenous peoples of Panama have maintained their traditional
lifestyle; as a result, in addition to ten provinces, Panama also has three
'comarcas'; states belonging to indigenous peoples. There are actually
two other comarcas that do not have provincial status (Kuna de Madungandí
and Kuna de Waragandí) which are therefore not shown on the map.
Comarca (meaning shire or county), is a traditional region or local administrative
division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. |
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