Guna people were living in what is now Northern Colombia and the Darién Province of Panama at the time of the Spanish invasion, and only later began to move westward towards what is now Guna Yala due to a conflict with the Spanish and other indigenous groups.
Centuries before the conquest, the Gunas arrived in South America as part of a Chibchan migration moving east from Central America.
At the time of the Spanish invasion, they were living in the region of Uraba and near the borders of what are now Antioquia and Caldas.
Alonso de Ojeda and Vasco Núñez de Balboa explored the coast of Colombia in 1500 and 1501.
They spent the most time in the Gulf of Urabá, where they made contact with the Gunas.

In far-eastern Guna Yala, the community of New Caledonia is near the site where Scottish explorers tried, unsuccessfully, to establish a colony in the "New World".
The bankruptcy of the expedition has been cited as one of the motivations of the 1707 Acts of Union.

There is a wide consensus regarding the migrations of Gunas from Colombia and the Darien towards what is now Guna Yala.
These migrations were caused partly by wars with the Catio people, but some sources contend that they were mostly due to bad treatment by the Spanish invaders.
The Guna themselves attribute their migration to Guna Yala to conflicts with the aboriginal peoples, and their migration to the islands to the excessive mosquito populations on the mainland.

During the first decades of the twentieth century, the Panamanian government attempted to suppress many of the traditional customs.
This was bitterly resisted, culminating in a short-lived yet successful revolt in 1925 known as the Dule Revolution (or "people revolution") – led by Iguaibilikinya Nele Kantule of Ustupu and supported by American adventurer and part-time diplomat Richard Marsh – and a treaty in which the Panamanians agreed to give the Guna some degree of cultural autonomy.

The San Blas Islands could be rendered uninhabitable by sea level rise in the late 21st century.
Guna people were living in what is now Northern Colombia and the Darién Province of Panama at the time of the Spanish invasion, and only later began to move westward towards what is now Guna Yala due to a conflict with the Spanish and other indigenous groups. Centuries before the conquest, the Gunas arrived in South America as part of a Chibchan migration moving east from Central America. At the time of the Spanish invasion, they were living in the region of Uraba and near the borders of what are now Antioquia and Caldas. Alonso de Ojeda and Vasco Núñez de Balboa explored the coast of Colombia in 1500 and 1501. They spent the most time in the Gulf of Urabá, where they made contact with the Gunas.
In far-eastern Guna Yala, the community of New Caledonia is near the site where Scottish explorers tried, unsuccessfully, to establish a colony in the "New World". The bankruptcy of the expedition has been cited as one of the motivations of the 1707 Acts of Union.
There is a wide consensus regarding the migrations of Gunas from Colombia and the Darien towards what is now Guna Yala. These migrations were caused partly by wars with the Catio people, but some sources contend that they were mostly due to bad treatment by the Spanish invaders. The Guna themselves attribute their migration to Guna Yala to conflicts with the aboriginal peoples, and their migration to the islands to the excessive mosquito populations on the mainland.
During the first decades of the twentieth century, the Panamanian government attempted to suppress many of the traditional customs. This was bitterly resisted, culminating in a short-lived yet successful revolt in 1925 known as the Dule Revolution (or "people revolution") – led by Iguaibilikinya Nele Kantule of Ustupu and supported by American adventurer and part-time diplomat Richard Marsh – and a treaty in which the Panamanians agreed to give the Guna some degree of cultural autonomy.
The San Blas Islands could be rendered uninhabitable by sea level rise in the late 21st century.
Guna people