The Emberá Indigenous people
In old school books prior to this new political subdivision the Embera indians
were known as Chocoe indians. But in the past years they were properly classified
and finally on November 8th, 1983.
The capital of the Embera comarca is Union Choco and their territory is split
into two main pockets/districts in the south and northeast of the Darien province.
The southern district is Sambu with the district capital Rio Sabalo) and the
northeast district named Cemaco with capital Union Choco. This however does not
mean you will only find Embera indians there. Unfortunately
since the 1970s there has been migration of Embera indians towards the capital.
According to a private research, the main factors of this migration have been
the invasion of their territory for the construction of a large dam (for the Panama
Canal) and the construction of the Panamerican highway. Another problem are the
incursions of Colombian FARC and paramilitary groups into Panamenian territory, namely
the jungles of Darien where the Embera live.
As a result of this migration there are Emberas living in very poor areas of
the capital (Curundu) with a result of deterioration to their own culture. Other
groups however have chosen a tradeoff and live in small communities around the
man made Gatun Lake and Alajuela Lake and in the shores of the Chagres rivers.
 The Embera are
beautiful and unique people who pretty much live the same way they did when Christopher
Columbus arrived in 1503. Back then their great chief named Cemaco and his people were
driven off by the advancing crew of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa who had left the town
of Santa Maria La Antigua del Darien (nowadays in San Blas
on his mission to "discover" the Pacific Ocean. He couldn't have done it on his own given
that they were in Embera domain so at some point they also had some indigenous people who
ultimately took him and his troup to see the big ocean. It was new to the Europeans but
not to the Embera.
It should noted that there is also an Embera ethnia in Colombia. In Panama the Embera
have a sorts of cousin tribe, the ethnia of the Wounan. That is why they are usually known
collectively as Emberá-Wounaan.
The Embera women are excellent artisants which make some of the best hand-woven baskets in
the world (see picture above). If you have the chance to visit them you can see how skillful
they are at making these baskets out of palm fibers and natural dyes in very colourful yet
aesthetically pleasant baskets.
 Another of the great artisanal products of the Embera are the mini sculptures of animals.
These are made out of the seed of the Tagua tree which when dry is really hard. They are so
skilled in transforming these mere tree seeds into painstakingly detailed animal carvings with
the most exquisite details. These are then painted by hand as well, and both the carving and
painting is a work that can take several days to complete. No wonder why these have such a
high price (but well worth it!).
The Embera women wear colourful clothes from their waist down with flowers on their heads. The men
simply wear loincloths. They usually have their settlements on the shores of great Darien
rivers such as the Tuira, Chucunaque and Sambu. They are used to have a garden nearby to
cultivate their own in addition to hunting and fishing. They are excellent wood carvers.
Their political subdivision is a General Chief which each settlement having a Sahila.
Some of these communities can be visited by various tours that are operated by
some travel agencies or tour operators. Some of these tourist-accessible settlements are
in Darien or on the shores of the Chagres river in Panama.
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