The Mouth Of The Bull (Bocas Del Toro)
Located on the furthest western tip of Panama the islands of Bocas Del Toro are the essence of Caribbean Panama. The archipelago features beautiful clear waters with a variety of aquatic species and coral reefs as well as magnificent mangroves and tropical forests filled with native flora and fauna.
It was his last trip to the Americas that Columbus first discovered the region of Bocas Del Toro.. He encountered the indigenous people in what is called today Almirante Bay, and found provisions for his two ships on the islands of Bastimentos and Carenero.
The local Indians claim the name came from an ancient and beloved chief with the name Boka Toro and do not buy into the Columbus theories.. Others claim that the islands were named not because of the waves but because the mouth of a waterfall that Christopher Columbus saw and said it look like a bull opening his jaws towards the beach.. There is another legend that alleges Columbus named the islands after seeing a large rock on the island of Bastimentos that was shaped like a bull lying down. Many people think that Columbus heard the waves in the area smashing into the rocks and said it sounded like a screaming bull thus giveing it the name mouth of the bulll..
Slaves were brought to the islands from Jamaica, San Andres and Providencia islands at the beginning of the 19th century to work in the European banana plantations and farms. The European settlers on the Bocas Del Toro islands began a trading exchange with the local Indians exporting live turtles, turtle shells, cocoa and mahogany. The decedents of these early European settlers and their slaves contribute to Bocas del Toro’s varied and rich ethnic culture, traditions, customs, foods, and music that make it a popular tourist destination today.
If you decide to visit Bocas check out this Bocas Del Toro Bed and Breakfast or this Bocas Del Toro Hotels
Tatanka Yotanka – Sitting Bull – Indian Nation – Red Power
Tags: bull, bull indian art, bull indian culture, bull indian elephant, bull indian inst hist med, bull indian ocean, indigenous, lakota, politics, sitting