While pockets of the indigenous peoples of the isthmus can be
found all over the country, either clinging to vestiges of their
way of life or assimilating fully into the Panamanian
mainstream, most still live on their ancestral lands. Comarcas
(semiautonomous reservations) are still being established. Most
Kuna (pop. 62,000) live in one of three comarcas. The largest of
these is Kuna Yala, or the San Blas Archipelago, which includes
a strip of mainland and a string of nearly 400 coral islands
that extends down the eastern Caribbean coast from Colón
province to the Colombian border. The other two Kuna comarcas,
Madungandí and Wargandí, are on the Caribbean slope of the
Darién rainforest. The Kunas refer to themselves as Tule, though
they recognize the name Kuna as well. The name is sometimes
spelled “Cuna,” but that’s now considered anachronistic. The
Emberá (pop. 22,000) and Wounaan (pop. 7,000) live in comarcas
on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes of the Darién. They are
culturally similar, but speak dif