1. Emberá–Wounaanformerly known as the Choco Indians Kylie Cloutier, Hunter Burgtorf, and Connor McNamara

2. History The Emberá tribe does not have a written history. They originated in Columbia in the 1600’s. The Emberá began settling in Darièn around the late 18th century. In the 1940’s, the Wounaan tribe had entered Panama. In the mid 20th century, the tribes lives were altered dramatically when they were introduced to the western products that brought them into cash economies.

3. Organization Dress: women wear colorful clothes from the waist down with flowers on their heads and necklaces. Men wear loincloths. Government: Their government is political and administrative, with general chiefs as maximum authority and sahilas for each village. Sources of income: The Emberá community do small scale farming which includes growing rice, yucca, oranges, mangoes, and cocoa. Besides farming, their main source of income is handicrafts, which everyone in the village produces. “We all make the handicrafts as all of us are artisans, men and women alike,” said the head of the Emberá proudly.

4. Religion Shamanism is their religion which is based on invisible forces called jai. Jai is the essence of things, natural phenomena, animals and people. They belong to nature and only the shaman can see and control them. Ewandamais the good god, the creator and Tiauruis the evil opponent.

5. Family Life and Structure Children learn traditions and economic skills through apprenticeship alongside their parents and grandparents. When the children are under the age of ten, they shadow their parents during the chores, but when they turn ten they start contributing themselves. High schools are non-existent. Marriage: Originally, men sometimes had more than one wife but today, monogamy is highly encouraged. When divorce occurs, children generally stay with the mother. Housing: Generally, six or seven people live in a household together. Which includes couples and their offspring.

6. Farming/Hunting Originally, the semi-nomadic forest dweller’s, the Emberáand Wounaan, were known as hunter-gatherers. They hunted with blowpipes and poisonous darts--a technique that is still in practice today in Colombia. In addition to hunting, people also set traps for rodents and birds. The most common targets for hunters were deer, wild boar, coati-mundi, gneke, etc. A significant part of their diet came from the collection of jungle plants, fruit, heart of palm, roots and tubers. Also, one of their sources of income comes from small scale farming.

7. Communication The Emberá tribe belongs to the Paezan language family. Their native language contains thirty percent cognates . They combined the two languages 800 – 1200 years ago. After they diverged, their spoken languages became unintelligible to indigenous Wounaan and Emberá.

8. War/Soldiers The Emberá, are warriors whereas the Wounaan are artists. The Emberá, used to be enemies with Kuna, but they now have found unity rather than division when they are addressing problems that they have in common. the emberá have expressed an interest in wanting to go to war with Cuna, Burumiá, Chanco, Idabaez, Suruco, Waunana, and Orocomira tribes.

9. Evidence The women of the tribe create beautiful ceramics. They also weave and make very useful household items. Today, they weave these items and sell them to tourists. Men make spears and points from palm wood. Like the women, they also create useful household items such as kitchen utensils, benches, and stools.

10. Legends http://www.sitepal.com/ttswidgetdemo?mId=31725649.3 Euandama is the body of the sun. He married the moon and had many children, all of which were black. One day, the children, his wife, and him went to the Bahia Solano located on Columbia’s Pacific Coast. Euandama then created a large lagoon and filled it with milk. After, the children were then ordered to bathe in the lagoon. The children soon learned that by bathing in the lagoon, their skin became white. There was not enough milk by the time others came, so they only turned brown. The last group that arrived, did not get there soon enough and their was only a small amount of milk left in puddles. Because of the lack of milk, they could only wash their hands and feet. Which left them more white than the rest of their bodies.

11. Citation http://www.folkart.com/swenty/logo-basket.jpg -http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/86855748.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=A7634A0C7C88C3035B047169254681F1E30A760B0D811297 http://www.panart.com/people/benardino2.jpg http://www.reganimages.com/images/embera.jpg http://andarpanama.com/susan/images/stories/el1.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/3413513189_ca257b4319.jpg http://richarddetrich.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/embera-nikki-150.jpg http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_12/images/Embera_6.jpg http://casabalboapanama.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/panama-embera-l.jpg http://emberatour.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/embera_tribe.jpg Wikipedia. Com http://www.panama1.com/imagenes/panama/Darien/embera002.jpg http://www.nativeplanet.org/indigenous/embera http://www.colombia.travel/es/images/stories/turistainternacional/comunidad/blogs/aleyda-rodriguez/waunana.jpg http://www.colormedivine2.com/Beautiful_abstract%20copy.jpg http://www.everyculture.com/Middle-America-Caribbean/Ember-and-Wounaan.html http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Ember-Orientation.html http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Ember-Orientation.html http://raisingcolombiankids.blogspot.com/2009/10/indigenous-groups-of-pacific-and.html http://assets.panda.org/img/panamakids_249548.jpg http://www.columbiariverimages.com/Images/pacific_ocean_beards_hollow_2005.jpg