Indigenous peoples of Panama

Embera girl, Darién Province, 2006
A Guna woman in Guna Yala
Guna house in Guna Yala, 2007

The indigenous peoples of Panama, also known as Native Panamanians, are the original inhabitants of Panama, is the native peoples whose history in the territory of today's Panama predates Spanish colonization. As of the 2010 census, Indigenous peoples constitute 12.3% of Panama’s population of 3.4 million, totaling just over 418,000 individuals. The Ngäbe and Buglé comprise half of the indigenous peoples of Panama.[1]

Many of the Indigenous Peoples live on comarca indígenas,[2] which are administrative regions for areas with substantial Indigenous populations. Three comarcas (Comarca Emberá-Wounaan, Guna Yala, Ngäbe-Buglé) exist as equivalent to a province, with two smaller comarcas (Guna de Madugandí and Guna de Wargandí) subordinate to a province and considered equivalent to a corregimiento (municipality).

  1. ^ "Panama History: Indigenous People." Archived 2010-11-25 at the Wayback Machine Panama Experts. (retrieved 23 Feb 2011)
  2. ^ "Indigenous Peoples in Panama." Archived 2011-03-02 at the Wayback Machine International Work Group for Indian Affairs. (retrieved 23 Feb 2011)