Ngäbe-Buglé region

Ngäbe-Buglé (ngäbere: Kätärä Teri Ngäbe Bugle and Kätärä Teri Ngäbe Bugle in Kädriri) is a Panamanian comarca defined as a division special political with provincial level, considered historical nationality. It limits to the north with the Caribbean Sea, to the south with the provinces of Chiriquí and Veraguas, to the east with the province of Veraguas and to the west with the provinces of Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí, counting with enclaves in the provinces of Chiriquí and Veraguas. The Ngäbe-Buglé territory covers an area of 6,968 km² and its population is estimated at 213,860 inhabitants in 2018, giving a population density of 30.7 inhabitants per km². Its population descends mainly from Ngäbes. The main ethnic minorities are the Buglés and peasants. The city of Buäbitdi is its capital and most populous town.

The Ngäbe-Buglé region was established by Law No. 10 (Official Gazette No. 23,242) of March 7, 1997, which states that the lands are the collective property of these two indigenous peoples from territories of the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí and Veraguas. It has an autonomous government represented by the Ngöbe Buglé General Cacique and the Ngöbe Buglé General Congress.

Etymological origin

The term Ngäbe-Buglé, is formed from the ngäbere term Ngäbe which in turn comes from the root ngä-, 'persons, people or nacer', and the suffix -be, 'see, feel or exist'. In fact Ngäbe can be translated as 'our people' and is used as a reference to one of the ethnic groups that inhabit the region. The word Buglé can be translated as 'people with resources' in the Buglere language and derives from the root bu-, meaning 'people, to live, to be present', and the suffix glé, 'land, resources' and names another ethnic group that inhabits the region.

History

Prehistory

According to the best-known and most widely accepted theory of man's arrival in Abiayala, Native Americans descended from groups of Siberian hunter-gatherers who migrated to Abiayala through the Bering Strait during the last Würm glaciation. The original inhabitants of the Isthmus of Panama were hunters and gatherers during the Mesolithic period and used stone tools. Around the year 5000 B.C. C., in the pre-ceramic era, the central region occupied by the current Ngäbes and Buglés had already developed agriculture, especially the cultivation of corn. In the years 1200 AD. C., the first Ngäbe and Bugle chiefdoms appear on the Isthmus of Panama. They knew their territory as Doboteme and the local authorities were the dongues. In the ceramic period they developed the Gran Coclé cultural area, which dominated the current provinces of Coclé, Herrera, Los Santos and Veraguas, characterized by a society that lived in cacicazgos (populations on the banks of rivers) and that maintained commercial relations with neighboring civilizations.

Ngäbe-Buglé Wars and Spanish Conquest

When the Castilians arrived in lower Central America, the Chibcha peoples inhabited from Honduras to the Sierra de Santa Marta in Colombia. It is believed that they originated on the current border between Costa Rica and Panama, where the largest number of Chibcha languages is found. The Ngäbe and Buglés, as a Chibcha population that shares a 41.1% similarity in their languages, inhabited the region from the chiefdom of Chirú to the current provinces of Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí, and probably on the border of Costa Rica with Panama.

In the 16th century, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean territory of chief El Quibian, in the Ngäbe-Buglé and Bocas del Toro, which was inhabited by Ngäbes, Buglés and in the case of Bocas del Toro, by other Chibcha tribes and claims the territory for the Crown of Castilla, but fails to conquer the region. In 1520, Gaspar de Espinosa conquered and destroyed the Ngäbe-Buglé chiefdoms of the Coclé and Parita savannahs, but control of the mountains was not achieved, nor of the Chiriquí or Veraguas region that would serve as refuges for the surviving populations of the genocide. of the Ngäbe and Buglé populations. In 1539, the Castilians with the help of Chichimec tribes founded a city at the mouth of the Tilorio river, which would be transferred to the Coaza or Duy valley. chibchas of the region would destroy all these Castilian populations. In 1570, an expedition from Costa Rica would arrive at the Guaymí valley and in 1578, Francisco Pavón would take possession of the Guaymí valley, founding the city of Artieda of the New Kingdom of Navarre, however, the city was abandoned by its inhabitants at that time. same year. The Ngäbe wars led by caciques like Urracá and others would prevent the conquest of the region of the current Ngäbe-Bugle region, but the attempts to dominate these territories continued through two routes: one came from Costa Rica, on the Caribbean slope, across the Tilorio River, while the Audiencia of Panama commanded expeditions from Natá, from the mining center of Concepción on the Caribbean slope of Veraguas and, after abandoning it in 1589, from the new cities on the Pacific savannahs. Although the Castilians failed to conquer the territory of the current Ngäbe-Buglé region, the population of the Ngäbe territories of Coclé, Herrera, Los Santos and southern Veraguas were reduced to slavery, which would cause a true demographic catastrophe and the few Survivors would mix with the Castilian population or be forced to adopt European culture.

The alliance of the zambos-mosquitos with the English would initiate the slave trade of the Ngäbes and other Chibcha populations in the region after the English colonization of Roatán (1642), Belize (1655) and Jamaica (1662), which would decimate the populations coastal, not only Ngäbe and Buglé, but also the Chánguenas, Doraces, Bribis, Naso Tjerdi, Tojares and others. The trafficking of human beings was a commercial activity with great repercussions in the Central American Caribbean and the Mosquito-English expeditions would continue until the 18th century. In the XIX century, the Moskito King claimed his rights over the so-called Mosquitia, which included Bocas del Toro and the Comarca Ngäbe- Buglé, and the Indians paid their tribute or annual recognition to the Miskito king. Place names of Miskito origin survive from this period, such as Sixaola, Changuinola, Cricamola, Kusapín and Kankintú.

20th century

Starting in 1972, the Panamanian government was required to establish comarcas, demarcated regions in which the Ngäbe and Buglé peoples possess exclusive land rights and considerable administrative autonomy. The Ngäbe-Buglé region was formed in 1997 as a result of the government's promise and political pressure from the Ngäbe and Buglé indigenous people, united by threats of exploitation of natural resources. and environmental degradation.

Physical geography

Physical map of the Ngäbe-Buglé region.

Limits of Veraguas and the Ngäbe-Buglé region.

The region has an area of 6968 km² and the total length of its coasts is unknown. It is located in the western region of Panama. The region is crossed from west to east by the Serranía de Tabasará, which separates two geographical regions: the Atlantic or Caribbean region, which is covered by 40% of primary forest and where the rivers are short and mighty, and the Pacific region, heavily deforested and with rivers that run further to the sea, and is located near the province of Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro.

Towards the southeast side of the region there are four exclaves separated by the provinces of Chiriquí and Veraguas: the corregimiento of Bakama (two exclaves inserted in the district of Tolé, Chiriquí), the corregimiento of El Bale (exclave located in the district de Cañazas, Veraguas) and the corregimiento of Jukri (in the district of Las Palmas, Veraguas).

The territory is made up of land that until then belonged to the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí and Veraguas, and is divided into nine districts. The capital of the region is Buäbitdi, located in the district of Münä.

Relief

Ngäbe-Buglé is a mountainous and coastal region with an important natural heritage. The region is characterized by its mountainous terrain, steep slopes, and nutrient-poor soils, generally with high rock content, characteristics that make agriculture difficult. It is the second most mountainous region in Panama considering the unevenness of the terrain. Three morphologically well-differentiated areas can be distinguished:

• Caribbean Coast: constituted by an extensive area of coastal wetlands formed by the system of several rivers and numerous beaches. On the Caribbean side there is no dry season and the tropical forest dominates the landscape.

• Mountain: It is a long barrier of abrupt mountains parallel to the sea that make up part of the Tabasará mountain range that exercises as dividing between the sides of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. In most of the volcanic and plutonic rock affected by intrusive phenomena and covering most of the region Ngäbe-Buglé. They form deep valleys in north-south disposition with strong slopes hourd by rivers of a torrential character, of great erosive power and short by the short distance between their birth and their mouth.

• Low hills, hills, valleys and plains of the South: On the Pacific side there is a dry winding time (December to April) and a wet season. As a result of the increased seasonal variation there are more geographical areas located on the Pacific side and vegetation consists of pastures mixed with tropical forest cover. Small perennial streams and large rivers run on both sides of the continental divide and are used for bathing, laundry and drinking. In the region most trips are made on foot or on horseback, as there is only one way of access throughout the year that takes in San Felix, a city connected to the Pan American Highway through Las Cruces.

Climate

The climate of the Ngäbe-Buglé region is temperate, very Humid in the mountains, tropical, very Humid on the Caribbean coast, and monsoonal in the south, and it tends to be highly variable. It is tempered by the intertropical convergence zone and marine currents from the Atlantic Ocean, and therefore has much rainier winters than other areas of similar latitude, such as David or Las Tablas. However, temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of Panama and it is not usually directly affected by tropical cyclones, except for Hurricane Martha, the only hurricane that has affected the region according to historical records, but due to its indirect effects. as an increase in rainfall. Rainfall is around 4592.8 mm per year on the coast, decreasing the values in the mountainous areas and the south to 3034.5 mm, which places it in humid and green Panama.

The average temperature is around 25.3 °C. Rain is frequent in the upper parts and the coast of the Ngäbe-Buglé region between the months of May and November. The driest months are: January and February, although there is generally no drought per se, since on the one hand there is always a minimum of precipitation, and on the other the temperatures are not very high. In some areas of the Tabasará mountain range with a high mountain climate, temperate temperatures are maintained throughout the year above 2000 meters above sea level.

However, differences between districts can be important. Thus, those furthest away from the coast, such as the highlands of Kankintú and Kusapín in Ñö Kribo, Besigä, Nole Düima, Mironä in the Nedrini region, and Ñürün and Münä, in the Kädriri region, have a temperate, very humid high-altitude climate., either because of the special mesoclimate of the area or because of its proximity to the Tabasará mountain range.

The influence of the mountainous relief of the Ngäbe-Buglé region is remarkable on its climate. It covers areas adjacent to the Tabasará mountain range and its main characteristic is high rainfall throughout the year, even during the In the driest month, rainfall remains above 60mm. The temperature of the coolest month is around 12 °C.

On the other hand, coastal areas are usually subjected to constant winds from the Atlantic Ocean, which frequently become strong. Under very particular conditions, more propitious in the months of June-November, during the hurricane season in the Atlantic, the winds and rains can increase in magnitude.

Average climate parameters
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	35.0	37.0	37.5	37.5	35.5	35.0	34.0	34.0	34.5	34.0	36.5	34.5	35.4
Temp. medium (°C)	14.0	13.5	12.0	14.5	16.0	16.0	15.5	15.5	15.5	15.5	15.0	14.0	14.8
Total precipitation (mm)	384.9	341.4	274.5	309.6	384.5	363.3	477	458.5	315.8	365.2	398.4	519.7	4592.8
Source: Electrical Transmission Company, SA

Hydrography

The rivers of the Ngäbe-Buglé region are short, fast and not very large; They save some considerable slopes as the sea is close to its source in the Tabasará mountain range. Its routes are usually perpendicular to the coast, except for the Mredra River (Ñö Mretra), and have a more or less persistent flow throughout the year due to generally constant rainfall. The rapidity of its waters, motivated by the considerable slopes of the routes, make them have a great erosive power, forming the embedded V-shaped valleys characteristic of the Tabasará cornice. Human activity, increasingly abundant in them due to the constant increase and concentration of the population in the valleys, is exerting strong pressure on these rivers.

Political-administrative organization

The region is divided into three regions, nine districts and 70 corregimientos:

Demographics

People of the ngäbe ethnic group.

In 2018, the Ngäbe-Buglé region had a population of 213,860 inhabitants according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (representing 5.14% of the population of Panama).

The Ngäbe-Buglé region is the most populous indigenous region in the country. As for provinces, it ranks 7th out of 10 provinces and 3 counties with a provincial level in Panama.

It has a population density of 33.0 inhabitants/km² and a life expectancy of 68.8 years for men and 72.8 years for women.

Compared to other Panamanian regions, the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca has not experienced high immigration rates, but it has the highest emigration rate in the country.

Races and Ethnicities

• 95.7 % Chibchas (Americans)
• 4.3 % 'Peasants (Americans)

About 95% of the population has Chibcha ancestry, constituting the largest Chibchense population in Abiayala by population. The largest ethnic groups are the Ngäbe, the Buglé and the peasants (4.7%). Although closely related and collectively referred to as the Ngäbe and the Buglé, they are two Chibchen language groups that despite being related, they are currently mutually unintelligible. The largest group, the Ngäbe, speak Ngäbere, while the smallest group, the Buglé, speak Buglere. Together, these two groups constitute the largest Native American population in Panama.

Culture

The Ngábe-Buglé region belongs to a common cultural unit that it shares, despite regional differences, with the northwestern communities of Panama, bathed by the Caribbean coast to the north and the Pacific coast to the south. This cultural unity, which has its roots in pre-Columbian times, was already recognized in the XVI century by the European navigator Christopher Columbus. with the name of Beragua (bera, snook, gwa, fish) and comprised the territory from the current province of Bocas del Toro to the Chagres River, both on the Caribbean coast like the Pacific. Its inhabitants were called Guaymí, a Buglere word for the Ngäbes.

To the otava question... I was going to find out what land they call Veragua

Pledges, volume 4

They spent ten days in this region with these Indians called Los Guaymíes who painted black and white and only used a piece of cotton cloth to cover the genitals.

Christopher Columbus

However, this cultural unity of the Atlantic coast does not mean a cultural homogenization of the societies of this geographical area. Within this whole group, the Ngäbe-Buglé region has an unquestionable ethnographic personality, which distinguishes it to the east and west from the Naso Tjerdis and mestizo populations, as well as naturally from the current inhabitants of the Arco Seco lands. To fully understand the regional cultural structure, one must understand the nature of its territory, divided into valleys, more or less isolated from each other, where the survivors of the indigenous genocide took refuge. The strong compartmentalization of the territory, as a consequence of a robust orography, has generated a marked internal division of the Ngäbe-Buglé region, with difficult cross-sectional communications between valleys, this being an essential issue in order to understand the set of traditions and customs of the region.

Art

Architecture

The Ngäbe and Buglé houses have adapted to the different regions of the region. The judogwä type house used at the foot of the mountains is round, with a wooden structure and a thatched or zinc roof and a dirt floor. The houses of the richest families may have a cement floor. In each house there is a platform under the roof known as Jon kri-bitdi kwin which is used for food storage and there are several platforms for beds.

Ngäbe-Buglé popular culture

Krüngitde

The “Krüngitde” is an annual celebration in which families from different nearby communities gather in a community. It is generally celebrated during the summer. It is a game in which men challenge each other to throw balsa sticks or krün (a type of very light wood) at the opponent's legs, having to jump so as not to be hit. Apart from these competitions, the “Krüngitde” (“rafting”) is a meeting to redistribute wealth, meet and debate, and to share, since they were normally held in communities where an etdaba that had large surpluses He invited his corresponding etdaba, and many other families joined him.

Other arts and customs

Angäbe female dress.

In the traditional clothing of the Ngäbe and Buglé region, the naguas stand out, colorful dresses decorated with geometric motifs and bracelets and necklaces of beads and beads, formerly used as ornaments for war. Men weave vegetable fiber hats for everyday use.

The Krä, resistant bags made of vegetable fibers that are used both as storage units and for the transport of materials. Sometimes you can even see infants being transported in a chacara. Some women also make these bags to sell, thus participating in the informal economy. It is believed that the mögadta (Cacique, or chief, of the serpents) showed her colors to a clairvoyant woman on the condition that he kept her secret until her death. There are simple ones, or more complex ones such as Kra Ñökray, Kra Kruzokray, Kra Manangrai, Kra Siglegrai, Kra Mögatdakray, among others.

Krä ngäbe.

Ngäbe and Buglé men often wear homemade bell-bottoms, straw hats, and rubber boots, while women wear brightly colored dresses with shoulder and neckline trimmings and embroidered ribbons around the waist and from the lower part, which is called naguas. Women generally do not wear shoes. These items are generally made at home on hand-cranked sewing machines and, as farmsteads, sold for additional income. All families also have a few large cooking pots called pailas and many keep chicha at home, a drink made from corn. Filing the teeth into points using a machete sharpening file is common among Ngäbe and Buglé men and women, although the practice is only carried out in more traditional areas. Families are usually quite large, and women often live together in large groups so that they can help each other with childcare. Polygamy was common among the Ngäbes and Buglés as the number of wives and children a man had was a symbol of prestige. This practice is no longer common, as supporting multiple wives and large families is becoming more difficult. Social capital and reciprocal networks formed through kinship are important in reducing economic and social resource vulnerability, while creating opportunities for families to cooperate and take advantage of greater opportunities to help other members of their group. of kinship to get ahead. Marriage and family relationships also play an important role in determining land ownership and use rights.

Language and Literature

The languages spoken at present or in the past in the Ngäbe-Buglé region are divided into two families: Chibchense languages and Romance languages. Two Chibchense languages are preserved in the region, Ngäbere, spoken throughout the region, and Buglere, spoken in more dispersed areas in the east (Kädriri) and in the Atlantic region (Ñö Kribo) of the region, but which previously it was spoken in much larger areas, as attested by place names in other provinces of the country. 90.5% of the population speaks one of the Chibchen languages.

In addition, in the current Ngäbe-Buglé region, a Romance language is spoken by groups known as peasants: Spanish. Spanish is spoken in the south of the region, in the areas bordering the lowlands of Chiriquí and Veraguas.

Land use

As Ngäbe-Buglé typically practice subsistence farming, definitions of land ownership and its use is of pinnacle importance to all households, especially as population increases in proportion to farmland in the region and productive lands are degraded by excessive use. The intricate system in which land resources are allocated is based on the kinship system. Property rights over the claimed lands are established through occupation and agriculture, although very little fertile land in the comarca has not been claimed. Members of a collective kin group own the land, but those who live in the village on the land they control. Undeniable rights to this collectively owned land belong to each member of the kin group, while loaned rights often extend to spousal family members, although these rights can be revoked. In this way, social organization forms the model of economic life and livelihood for the majority of the Ngäbe-Buglé. The most common crops grown in the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca are maize, rice, beans, otoe, plantains, and coffee, although people also grow tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables in smaller gardens at home. Fruits such as mangoes, oranges, mento, grow seasonally along with cocoa, all of which complement the Ngäbe-Buglé diet. Meat is rarely eaten although many families keep cows, pigs, mallards and chickens, fish is a common staple and hojaldras (Panamanian fried bread) are sometimes eaten for breakfast. Most agriculture is done on land cleared using slash-and-burn techniques, and due to increasing population pressure, this land is rarely left fallow long enough, so yields tend to decline over time.

Economy and resources

Agriculture is still an important part of the local economy, occupying a high percentage of the population, around 69%. As subsistence farming becomes less and less reliable, the Ngäbe-Buglé have begun to participate in the monetary economy, which offers some relatively accessible alternatives to generate capital and obtain the necessary services and resources. Labor is an abundant resource that the Ngäbe-Buglé possess, although due to poor education and low human capital including health and nutrition, unskilled labor is quite a lot. As a result, many men are forced to migrate in search of seasonal jobs in agriculture or in search of other types of informal work. For this reason, it is common to find Ngäbe and/or Buglé men working in the coffee harvest in the highlands of neighboring Chiriquí, especially in Boquete and Santa Clara. This region of Panama is known for high quality shade grown and in some cases organic coffee. Seasonal vegetables grown in the highest places are harvested in the region. Women also participate in the informal economy, making chácaras, naguas and jewelry to sell, and some men sew pants or caps. Social capital is more relevant to participation in the informal economy as relationships offer people new opportunities to make money, social capital can even be a mechanism used to attract help from governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The region has one of the largest copper deposits in the world, with an exploitation capacity of about 100 years.