Guaymí

The Guaymí or Ngäbe are an indigenous group living mainly within the Ngöbe-Buglé comarca (or reserve) in the Western Panamanian provinces of Veraguas, Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro. Guaymí is the traditional term for the Ngäbe and is derived from the Buglere term for them (guaymiri). Local newspapers and other print media usually misspell the name Ngäbe as "Ngobe" or "Ngöbe" because Spanish does not contain the sound represented by "ä", a low-back rounded "a", slightly higher than the English "aw" in the word "saw" and Spanish speakers hear "ä" as either an "o" or an "a". The language spoken by the Ngäbe is Ngäbere. There are approximately 200,000-250,000 speakers of Ngäbere today. A sizable number of Ngäbe have migrated to Costa Rica in search of work on the coffee fincas. Ngäbere and Buglere are distinct languages in the Chibchan language family. They are mutually unintelligible.

The Spanish found three distinct Guaymi tribes in what is today's western Panama; each was named after its chief and each spoke a different language. The chiefs wereNata, in the Province of Cocle ,and Parita in the Azuero Peninsula and the greatest chief Urraca in what is now Veraguas Province.
Urraca is the famous one. He defeated the Spaniards time after time, and forced Diego de Albitez, a captain of the Spanish, to sign a peace treaty in 1522.

Sent in chains to Nombre de Dios on the Atlantic coast - according to historian Bartolomé de las Casas - Urraca escaped and made his way back to the mountains, vowing to fight the Spaniards unto death. And he fulfilled his vow. Urraca was so feared by the Spaniards that they avoided combat with his men. When Urraca died in 1531 he was still a free man.

The Guaymies were divided into two large groups: those of the lowlands along the Atlantic coast, and those of the tropical forest in the highlands of Veraguas and Chiriqui. Never surrendered, fighting until the collapse of the Spanish empire. When Panama broke away from Spain and joined Colombia in the early 19th Century, the Guaymies remained in their mountain villages. Only now slowly are they being incorporated into the main stream.

Today The Guaymí are mainly subsistence farmers. On the Pacific slopes, the main crops are rice, corn, yucca, otoy, ñame (both tubers), several species of beans. Small-scale livestock production of chickens and pigs is maintained and in the higher elevations is supplemented by hunting. The primary crop for the Guaymí on the Atlantic slopes is green bananas.

In order to obtain money many Guaymí resort to working in the cash economy. Coffee picking, work on large cattle farms and work on banana plantations provide the main source of cash. Also selling their colorful bead necklaces once made for war and ceremony on the side of the roads in Panama.

The Guaymi women make many traditional crafts, both for the use of themselves and their families, but also to sell as extra income. These include handmade bags from plant fibers called "kra" in their language, colorful dresses called "nagua" and beaded bracelets and necklaces. The men of the Guaymi have a tradition of weaving hats from plant fibers. This is the traditional "Panama Hat".

External links

* [http://southernhorizons.com/PA_a_comarca.htm Ngobe Bugle (English)]
* [http://countrystudies.us/panama/30.htm US Library of Congress] - Guaymí
* [http://medo.awardspace.com] -a Ngobe development organization
* [http://soloy.pueblerino.info/english/index.html] - a Ngobe Botanical garden