Indigenous peoples of Panama

Embera girl, Darién Province, 2006
A Kuna woman on the San Blas Islands
Kuna house on the San Blas Islands, 2007

Indigenous peoples of Panama, or Native Panamanians, are the native peoples of Panama. According to the 2000 census, there are 285,231 indigenous peoples living in Panama,[1] and they make up almost 5% of the overall population. The Guaymí and Ngöbe-Buglé comprise half of the indigenous peoples of Panama.[2]

Many of the tribes live on comarca indígenas,[1] which are administrative regions for an area with a substantial Indian populations. Three comarcas (Comarca Emberá-Wounaan, Kuna Yala, Ngöbe-Buglé) exist as equivalent to a province, with two smaller comarcas (Kuna de Madugandí and Kuna de Wargandí) subordinate to a province and considered equivalent to a corregimiento (municipality).

Indigenous groups

Languages

Some native peoples speak Spanish, while many more retain their traditional languages. According to the 2000 census, the following indigenous languages are spoken in Panama:

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Indigenous Peoples in Panama." International Work Group for Indian Affairs. (retrieved 23 Feb 2011)
  2. 1 2 "Panama History: Indigenous People." Panama Experts. (retrieved 23 Feb 2011)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indigenous peoples of Panama.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.