Book Review

Caribbean and Latin America

By the beginning of the seventeenth century, Spain had established colonial government over Panama's central region, but the eastern side of the isthmus known as Darién proved to be a different matter. For centuries to come, control over this area was to be contested among Spanish officials, the local Tule population, and other European powers whose representatives made repeated incursions into Darién. Ignacio Gallup-Diaz's carefully researched elecronic book examines the history of European-Indian relations in eastern Panama during the European expansion from 1640 through 1750. It chronicles Spain's major entradas and provides a fresh interpretation regarding how indigenous societies succeeded in keeping foreign powers at a distance during the period in question.

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Gallup-Diaz argues that the main reason for Europe's inability to conquer the region was Spain's strategy of creating a cadre of native surrogate leaders that had no regard for the already existing structures of indigenous social life. According to long-held tradition, power rested on Indian leres or ritual specialists who commanded respect from villagers and were able to influence political decisions such as alliances and policies of resettlement. Instead, Spaniards chose unrepresentative Tule leaders who did not possess the coercive power to mediate dialogue and politics between Indians and outside invaders. By trivializing leres as demon worshipers, Spaniards failed to understand the neurological center of Indian power relations. When Spanish, English, Scottish, and French intruders came into Darién expecting to subdue the region by securing an alliance with a chief or a group of chiefs, they found out that such chiefs possessed little influence to rally the will of the natives.

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