Alternative Names
The Kuna (or San Blas Kuna) call themselves Tule (Dule), a word that also means “people,” “person,” or “indigenous person,” although they also use the name Kuna.
Location
The Kuna live along the eastern Caribbean shore of Panama on the coast of San Blas, as well as in and around the cities of Panama and Colón. Other smaller Kuna populations, who are not considered in this article, live in the interior of eastern Panama and northwest Colombia.
Cultural Overview
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Kuna, then a riverine and forest population in the Darién region of eastern Panama, engaged in intermittent conflict with Spanish colonial authorities while cooperating with Northern European pirates and traders. During a century of peace beginning in the late 18th century, most of the Kuna moved to the northern Caribbean coast of San Blas, and between the middle 19th and early 20th centuries they continued out onto nearby islands.
Today the coastal Kuna inhabit some 50...
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Howe, J. (2003). Kuna. In: Ember, C.R., Ember, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29907-6_58
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