Bocas Del Toro History
Bocas del Toro has a rich and colourful history having been the home and playground to a vast number of different people over the last five centuries. In 1502, Christopher Columbus arrived on the shores of Bocas del Toro.
He was so taken with the beauty of the area, that during this fourth and final New World Voyage, he chose to name many of the locations in and around the archipelago with his own name including Isla Colon (Columbus Island) as well as Bahia de Almirante (Admiral’s Bay) and Isla Cristobal (Christophers Island).
Due largely to it’s location and the many coves and bays, the archipelago became a haven for pirates during the 17th century. They built and repaired their ships on the islands and fed upon the abudant sea turtles that nested on many of the local beaches.
The pirates are said to have buried treasures on many of the islands, but none of this loot has been found, or perhaps, it just has not been reported!
Because Bocas del Toro did not have such a plentiful supply of gold, the Spaniards did not colonize the region with the same cruel efficiency that was unleashed in most other parts of Panama.
Following the arrival of the French Huguenots on the coast in the 17th and 18th Centuries, a Spanish malitia was sent to remove the settlers. Most of the indigenous population of Bocas got wiped out by the Spanish swords along with a range of old world diseases.
Wealthy aristocrats were looking to establish themselves, early in the 19th century, arriving in Bocas with large numbers of black slaves from Columbia’s San Andreas and Providencia Islands as well as from the USA.
The area become a playground for the rich and wealthy until the 1850’s when slavery was abolished. At that time many of the black slaves chose to stay in the area living off the land and seas as farmers and fisherman.
Towards the end of the 19th Century, the banana industry had begun to boom and many of the Jamaican blacks living in the area joined in the banana goldrush.
Three American brothers arrived in Bocas del Toro and founded the Snyder Brothers Banana Company in 1890. All along the shores of the Laguna de Chiriqui, the brothers planted banana trees.
For nine years the business grew until it was taken over by the United Fruit Company in 1899. Over the next decade, the United Fruit Company established vast plantations that stretched across the peninsula.
Networks of bridges, canals and roads as well entire towns were constructed around the banana trade both for the companies workers as well as their families.
The United Fruit Company is, today, part of the multinational, Chiquita Brands International and is a major player in controlling the promoting the three-quarter of a million tons of bananas grown and exported in the Bocas del Toro Province each year.
In addition, they comprise the largest Provincial workforce and the most diverse workforce in the country including chinese, latinos, west indians and indigenous tribesfolk on their payroll.
Today, Bocas is a cultural mix with some of the islands having their own distinctive cultural flavour and flair.
Bastimentos being far more Creole, whilst Caranero is considered to be much more indigenous Indian. Villages dotted around the Archpelago often too have a distinct cultural bias, but essentially, the area is an eclectic mix of rich history that makes up the islands.
