The People of Panama

Background

• Reconquista• Moore, Jew, Spaniard• Feudalism• God, Gold, and Glory• Charles V (1516-1556)

Colonial Spanish Hierarchy• Peninsulares– Born in spain– Held most prestigious positions

• Criollos– Pure Spanish Ancestry– Positions in Government and Trade

• Mestizos– Mixed (usually spanish father and Amerind mother)– Retail trade and services

• Africans and Indians– Slaves

Geography

Panamanian HistoryPre-Columbus

• 60 tribes– 500,000- 750,000 people

• Biggest Tribes:– Kuna- largest– Guaymi- Related to Mayans– Choco- Related to South American Indians

Panamanian HistoryEarly Years

• Rodrigo de Bastidas reached isthmus in 1501

• Columbus founded Portobelo on 4th voyage

• Vasco Nunez de Balboa– 1510: came to Panama

(creditors)– 60/800 settlers left– Founded Antigua and

became mayor– Made settlers plant crops– Found chief’s Daughter

Panamanian HistoryEarly Years

• 1513- Balboa led 1190 man expedition – Found Pacific after 25 days– Claimed all sea and shores it

touched for Spain and God

• Returned to Antigua in 1514

• Beheaded by “Pedrarias the Cruel” (Arias) 1517

Panamanian HistoryEarly Years

• 1519- Pedrarias moved capitol 2 miles east of present day Panama City

• Linked with Nombre de Dios by Camino Real– Atlantic-Pacific trade– 3rd richest Spanish colony in New World

Panamanian HistoryEarly Years • Council of Indies declared

that Indians should be protected and converted– Little enforced with most good

from missions

• Bartolome de las Casas– Outraged by native’s

treatment– Indian slaves replaced by

Africans– Slave trade begun in 1517

• (continued for ~200 years)

Panamanian HistoryPre-Independence

• 1671- Panama looted and burned by Henry Morgan– After 4 weeks, left with 600

prisoners/175 mules

• 1673- Present Day Panama City rebuilt (fortified)

• Spanish Empire declined from 17th to 19th century

Panamanian HistoryEnter USA • 10 Nov 1821: Panama

declared independence– Shortly thereafter absorbed

into Columbia• 1821-1847: South American

Politics• 1847: Panama Railroad built– Created 2nd largest city:

Aspinwall/Colon– Chinese labour

• 1856: Watermelon War• 1869: Transcontinental

Railroad built

Panamanian HistoryLast half of 19th Century

• 50 riots and rebellions• 5 attempted successions• 13 interventions by USA• 36 Presidents in 23 years• Colon destroyed in 1885• “War of 1000 days” (1899-1902)

Panamanian HistoryCanal Planning

• King Phillip II (1556-1598)– “If God wanted a canal he would have built one”

• 17th century renewed calls– Spain too weak

• 19th Century– England and US stalemated for building– France began canal construction in 1879

• Ferdinand de Lesspes (Suez Canal)• Imported many Antillean Blacks

• Canal abandoned after bankruptcy 1889

Panamanian HistoryThe Canal

• Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1902)– US gets sole rights to build

canal from Britain• Hay-Herran Treaty (1903)

– Denied by Columbia• US encouraged Sepratists• Nov. 1903: US recognizes

Panama as nation• Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty

(1903-4)– $40 million and $250,000

annuity in Gold– Canal Zone given in perpetuity

to US• 1914: Canal finished

Panamanian HistoryPost-Canal

• 1930’s: Fascism under Arnulfo Arias• Rising Anti-Americanism after WWII• 1948 & 1955 Treaty Renegotiations• June 1964 Riots• 1968: Torrijos’ Coup• 1977 Treaties:

– Panama Canal Treaty• Legal jurisdiction of canal zone

transferred to Panama• Canal given to Panama 31 Dec 1999

– Neutrality Treaty• US responsibility for protection of canal

permanently• 1981-1990: Noriega Government• 1990- Present: Stability

Modern Panama Statistics

• Country roughly size of South Carolina• 80% Catholic Mestizo (Spanish)• 14% Protestant Antillean Blacks (English)• 6% Amerinds (Bi/tri-lingual)• Compulsory school attendance to age 15• 91% of population literate

Panamanian Government• President with 2 Vice Presidents– 5 years terms

• Unicameral Legislative Assembly– 5 years terms

• Supreme Court– 9 Members with 9 alternates– Appointed 10 years terms

• Parties:– PRD: Democratic Revolutionary Party– PPA: Authentic Panamanian Party

Panamanian Culture• Kinship central to Society• Men expected to be sexually active outside

marriage– Mistresses common and acceptable for every class– Men obliged to support any children

• Fidelity extremely important for wives, with children overriding concern

• Catholic religion required to be taught in schools (spanish)

• “Money Whitens Everyone”

“Natives”

• Amerinds– Cuna– Guaymi– Choco– Bribri– Bokata– Terraba

Cuna/ Bugue-Bugue

• God: Olokkuppilele at Mt. Tacarcuna• Mother God: Earth, man children of mother

Cuna/ Bugue-Bugue

• Origin: South America• Majority live in San Blas coral islands (38)• Villages 37-1500 people

Cuna/ Bugue-Bugue

• Society centred around Village and household• Households avg. 9.9 people• Ideal:– Senior couple (directs work)– Unmarried children– Married daughters with Sons-in-law (subordinate)

and offspring

Cuna Society

• Men dominate Political/Social sphere• Kinship doesn’t define succesion• Meetings:– Chanting/singing attended by village– Talking attended by Men

Cuna Society

• Conversion attempts unsuccessful– Manliness based on ability to chant and perform

rituals– Female Puberty ritual

• Albino rate high

Cuna-Hispanic History • Allied with Pirates• 17th Century Spanish

Extermination– Halted with Independence

from Spain• 1919- Civilisation Programme– Abolished Nose rings, Bead

Bindings, Puberty ritual• 1925- Kuna Yala Reserve

Created• Drug smugglers, Guerillas,

Mestizo immigration

Guaymi/Ngobe

• Second largest native group in Central American (~125,000)

• Range:– Bocas del Toro– Chiriqui– Verguas

• Divided By Cordillera Mtn. Range– Pacific side: Small, Scattered Hamlets– Atlantic Side: Riverline/Costal enviornments

Guaymi Social Structure

• Hamlets (Caterios) of 5-10 huts• Trade and Ceremonies in Mestizo cities• Ideally each settlement composed of:– Cosanguinous males, their wives and unmarried

children

Guaymi Social Structure

• Strongly Patriarchal– Greater female

independence due to migrant work

• Kin strongly connected btwn Hamlets

• Women come of age at 14• Men come of age at 18

Guaymi Marriage

• Political– Men without daughters to exchange at

disadvantage• Polygamy – practiced mainly to show wealth/prestige– Often Co-wife is younger sister of first– Younger wives leave husbands as they age– Up to 10 wives throughout male’s life, but usually

dies with only one

Guaymi Life

• Hunting practiced greatly until 1960’s• Diet consists of mostly Yams and Bananas• Principal employers banana plantations and

ranches (increased in 1950’s)

Other Natives• Choco:

– SE portion of Darien on Columbian Border– Bilingual and intermarried with Columbian Blacks

• Bribri– Mostly Protestant

• Bokata– Close Linguistically to Guaymi

• Terraba– 1910-1930’s decimated by TB, expansion in 1950’s– Culture mostly lost, looting gold from ancestral burial mounds

common• Illiteracy for Amerinds in Panama over 80%

Do the Indigenous peoples have a future?

• Christianity• Education• Economics• Language• Environment• Medicine• Universalism vs. Relativism• What is indigenous?