Emberá-Wounaan Comarca

The Emberá-Wounaan Comarca extends across eastern Panama with elevated wooden houses along the Chucunaque, Sambú, and Tuira Rivers, featuring palm-thatched roofs without walls.

In the late 1700s, the Emberá people moved from Colombia's Chocó region to Panama's Darién area, establishing settlements that received official recognition as a comarca in 1983.

The inhabitants maintain matrilineal family structures and traditional practices, including body painting with natural dyes, while men wear loincloths and women wrap garments.

Access to the comarca requires boat transportation along rivers or walking through forest trails, with local guides necessary for navigation and cultural interpretation.

The Emberá community uses calabash trees extensively, transforming their gourds into functional items while practicing collective land ownership and communal harvest systems.

Location: Panama

Inception: 1983

Capital city: Unión Chocó

Shares border with: Darién Province, Guna Yala, Chocó Department

GPS coordinates: 8.53417,-77.54167

Latest update: May 28, 2025 18:10