The Ngäbe mostly live within the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca in the Western Panamanian provinces of Veraguas, Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro.

Local newspapers and other media often alternatively spell the name Ngäbe as Ngobe or Ngöbe because Spanish does not contain the sound represented by ä, a low-back rounded a, slightly higher than the English aw in the word saw.

Christopher Columbus and his men contacted the Ngäbe in 1502, in what is now known as the Bocas del Toro province in northwestern Panama.

Since that contact, Spanish conquistadors, Latino cattle ranchers, and the development of large banana plantations successively forced the Ngäbe into the less desirable mountainous regions in the west.

Many Ngäbe were never defeated in battle, including the famous cacique Urracá who in the 16th century united nearby communities in a more than seven-year struggle against the Conquistadors.

Those Ngäbe who survived on the outskirts of this region began to slowly intermarry with the Latinos and became part of what are now termed campesinos, or rural Panamanians with indigenous roots.

[4] In the early 1970s[5] the Torrijos administration tried to encourage the Ngäbe to form more compact communities by building roads, schools, clinics, and other infrastructure in designated points in what is now the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé.

This marked a social change in lifestyle, as formerly dispersed villages and family units did converge and form larger communities.

The Spanish found three distinct Guaymi tribes in what is today's western Panama; each was named after its chief and each spoke a different language.

According to historian Bartolomé de las Casas, Urracá escaped and made his way back to the mountains, vowing to fight the Spaniards unto death.

The Ngäbe lived in two large groups: those of the lowlands along the Atlantic coast, and those of the tropical forest in the highlands of Veraguas and Chiriquí Province.

The Comarca Ngäbe-Bugle is approximately 6,700 square kilometers, encompassing areas of the three westernmost provinces of Panamá: Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui and Veraguas.

Many of the coastal-living Ngäbe men, such as those living on the Bocas del Toro islands or on Punto Valiente, rely on ocean resources to provide for their families.

In the province Bocas del Toro, the Changuinola Dam was completed in 2011 as a project for flood control and production of hydroelectric power.

The staff have had to adapt some of their practices to accommodate the women's culture and to encourage traditional midwives to come to the hospital.

On the days leading up to the funeral, neighbors and friends will visit to offer their condolences; they will sit with the family members for part of the night.

After four days, each family member eats a spoonful of cooked bananas with salt and sugar to break this fast.

It is widely believed that the dresses were introduced by Catholic missionaries for modesty's sake, as the Ngäbe traditionally wore loincloths and little else.

For most of the year, both genders wear "chancletas" (sandals) or rubber boots when moving about, due to Panama's heavy rainfall and the lack of infrastructure in the Comarca.

While the people are predominately Catholic, some Ngäbe have since adopted various forms of protestant Christian views, including: The British Methodist Church established a mission field among the Guaymi Indians about 1926-27, under the leadership of the Rev.

Born locally on the island of Carenero, in Bocas del Toro Province, he was the son of John Alphonse, from Martinique, and Carlotha Reid, a native of Bluefields, Nicaragua.

Working with them to learn the language, he devised a written form and translated the four Gospels of the New Testament and many hymns into the Guaymi dialect.

The Virgin Mary (and possibly Jesus – there are several stories) allegedly appeared before a Ngäbe woman named Besikö (pronounced "bessy-go") over the Fonseca River.

While the exact commands of the vision have been hotly disputed, they roughly consist of: Besikö, thereafter more commonly known as Mama Chi, was also told that her people's failure to adhere to these principles within five years would result in the death of all Ngäbe.

Mama Chi's preaching affected a great many Ngäbe, who adopted the principles to varying degrees of strictness.

In the weeks leading up to balseria, participants in each town blow animal horns and other makeshift trumpets to announce the imminence of the event.

On the first day of balseria, the hosts receive the challenged in their town and provide food and drink (generally fermented corn, banana, and palm leaf liquor).

At dawn on the third day, the best balseros of each town lead a procession to a predetermined location and begin the games by facing one another.

According to the Ngäbe, while alcohol and violence are present during balseria, it is primarily a cultural event, a unique sport, and a chance to demonstrate pride in their heritage.

Among all the provinces in Panama, the Comarca Ngäbe-Bugle consistently score lowest in terms of human development, education, income, and social and economic investment indices.