Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
When the Spaniards first visited Chiriquí in the early 15th century, they were astonished
by what they found. Instead of discovering one or two main population groups, they en-
countered a large number of tribes living in relative isolation. Often separated by only a
few kilometers, each group maintained a distinct language, culture and religion.
Spanish missionaries arrived and began their conversions. In the early 17th century a
group led by Padre Cristóbal Cacho Santillana rounded up 626 indigenous people from
across the region. Hoping that his work would be easier if he could identify similarities
in the languages, Santillana started to record a vocabulary of the most common words,
and he was successful in identifying six distinct languages.
Sadly, measles brought by the colonists swept through the towns and killed half of the
study population. The survivors, having had enough of the Spaniards, their linguistic
studies and their religion, took to the hills. Unfortunately, their fate was already sealed -
of the Cotho, Borisque, Dorasque, Utelae, Bugabae, Zune, Dolega, Zariba, Dure and oth-
ers, only the Ngöbe-Buglé survived. Today, the Ngöbe-Buglé are the most populous of
Panama's seven indigenous groups, though their numbers are but a fraction of what they
once were.
During the 17th century and into the 18th century Chiriquí Province was the subject of
pirate attacks, much like the rest of Panama. It was just outside Remedios in 1680 that
English buccaneer Richard Sawkins, attempting to lead an assault against the well-defen-
ded city, was fatally wounded. Six years later, English privateers from Honduras sacked
the towns of Alanje and San Lorenzo. Even the Miskito tribes from up north behaved
like pirates after invading the region in 1732, and plundering and burning the city of
David.
In the 19th century, farmers from North America and Europe viewed the climate and
slopes of the Chiriquí highlands as prime for coffee, timber and other crops. Their des-
cendants still work the fields today. Though the wave of immigration hasn't subsided, re-
cent arrivals are mainly foreign retirees and real-estate speculators, which has led many
chiricanos
to question who it is that actually owns the land they love so much.
LOWLANDS
Chiriquí has much more to offer than its famous highland rainforests - the lowlands are
home to Panama's second-largest city, David, as well as large stretches of striking Pacific
coastline.
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