Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Brief history
Archeological evidence suggests that
indigenous peoples
inhabited the islands and mainland
of present-day Bocas del Toro two thousand years ago, long before an ailing Christopher
Columbus limped into the bay on his final voyage in 1502 in search of a route to Asia. Later,
during the colonial era, the calm waters of the archipelago provided shelter for European
pirates and, by the early nineteenth century, the islands were already becoming the ethnic
melting pot that characterizes them today, attracting British and US trading
merchants
, who
came with their West African slave workforce, founding the town of Bocas del Toro in 1826.
Following construction of the
Panama Railroad
and the French canal effort, West Indian
migrants continued to drift into the area.
The banana trade
For the last two centuries, the ebb and flow of the
banana trade
has most clearly defined
the province. By 1895 bananas from Bocas accounted for more than half of Panama's export
earnings, and Bocas Town boasted five foreign consulates and three English-language news-
papers. Around 6500 were employed by the United Fruit Company in its heyday, and the
company was responsible for building the now-defunct mainland railroad system and con-
structing canals, hospitals, telegraph networks and entire towns. But following repeated dev-
astation by disease early in the twentieth century, the banana harvests failed, causing the ar-
chipelago's economy to languish. When the banana trade started up again in the 1950s and
1960s, Guna and Guaymí workers were also integrated into the workforce, many suffering
serious ill-health from noxious pesticides. Now, the business is confined to the plantations
round Changuinola, the headquarters of Bocas Fruit Company, the current incarnation of “the
company” and part of Chiquita Brands International. With almost four thousand employees
it is still the most important employer in the province though since the trade in “
oro verde
”
(green gold) is flagging, workers now earn pitifully low wages.
Tourism and real estate
In recent years,
tourism
and
real estate
speculation have soared, generating employment and
income for some residents while leaving others behind to struggle with the inevitable rise in
the cost of living, increased pressure on services and the threat of being thrown off their land.
Foreign investors have been allowed to purchase huge portions of the archipelago for luxury
resorts and holiday homes, despite local opposition. Given the complex ecosystems involved
and the lack of infrastructure on the islands due to years of government neglect, much con-
cern exists over the sustainability of such developments.
Archipiélago de Bocas del Toro
Most tourists make a beeline for the
Archipiélago de Bocas del Toro
, scarcely setting foot on
the mainland except to catch a bus or ferry. Despite the existence of several hundred atolls, is-
lets and cays scattered across the bite-shaped gulf that shelters much of the archipelago, most
tourist activity is centred on the handful of larger islands, covered in rainforest and fringed