The islands of Bocas del Toro were formed 8,000 to 10,000 years ago when the sea level rose with the melting of the polar caps at the end of the Ice Age. These islands were separated from the rest of Central America and so plants and fauna evolved that were unique to the region. For example the red poison dart frogs.
The archipelago was originally inhabited by native indians - Ngobe-Bugle, Teribe (Nazo), Bokota and Bri Bri. The Pre-History of the area is covered on this separate information page.
Then Christopher Columbus arrived here 6th of October of the year 1502 on his fourth and last voyage. His ships had been damaged by storms and he was fortunate to find the sheltered waters round Bocas. The islands discovered by Columbus in 1502, became supply and repair stations for shipping. This is why we have names like "Bastimentos" which translates to "supplies" and "Carenero" translating to "careening".
In 1510 the Spanish founded the settlement of Nombre di Dios (on the delta of the Changres River), into which they tranported the great riches that the Conquistadors brought back from Peru. The gold attracted pirates, and in the eighteenth century the Caribbean coast was considered so dangerous that the Spanish began to travel to Europe directly from Peru by circumnavigating Cape Horn.
At the beginning of the 19th century various Scottish and English families came from Jamaica and other British Caribbean possessions, with their slaves, in order to evade taxes. Thousands of slaves from the Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providence transported as labour by rich landowners.
The largest island, Isla Colon, has the town of Bocas del Toro. The town was founded in 1826 and it became a banana boomtown a century ago. Bocas del Toro was the third most important city of Panama, during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. United Fruit Company, the large banana producer, known for its Chiquita Brands, was based here to manage the banana production. Vast tracts of land were also turned over for o the cultivation of sugar cane, cocoa, and coconut palms, while the trade in tortoiseshell and live turtles continued.
In 1865 the Jamaica Mission undertook work at Bocas del Toro, on the Isthmus of Panama, in order to minister to the Jamaicans who had settled there in search of employment.
At the height of its prosperity there were five consulates, three newspapers, a bottling plant and the first lottery in Panama. Coconuts, turtle shells, sarsaparilla and cocoa beans were exported along with bananas.
All that ended in the 1920s with the demise of commercial banana production, but some of the old colonial buildings and parks from that time still remain. Today there are only about 10,000 residents in the archipelago. And in this Spanish-speaking nation, older islanders speak English, because of immigration from Jamaica in the past.
Today, although the Bocas archipelago has over 100 islands and small cays, only six are actually inhabited. Bocas del Toro is the centre of government for this island region. The town has schools, restaurants, hotels, an airport with a 5,000 foot runway, construction & material companies & dive shops. Some 4,000 of the inhabitants of the archipelago live on Colon.
The other inhabited islands in the area are Bastimentos (1,500 inhabitants), Solarte, (1,500 inhabitants), Isla Cristobal (700 inhabitants), Isla Popa (600 inhabitants) & Cayo Agua ( 600 inhabitants)