Dispersed among their clans and homesteads, and geographically isolated from most of the world, the Naso developed and nurtured their cultural self-sufficiency through the idiom and the institution of the family.

[3] The Térraba, or Teribe, are an indigenous group in the Puntarenas region of southern Costa Rica with a rich cultural heritage.

The Térraba are a warrior people that trace its roots back to the pre-Columbian Chiriquí civilization that dominated Costa Rica.

When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the early 1500s, they found Costa Rica to be a harsh country with few resources to exploit.

However, the efforts to recover it are supported by the Teribe of Panama, another group that shares its culture and history with the Térraba of Costa Rica.

For a short bibliography on the Térraba language please refer to The Newberry Library’s Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer collection, Volume 2.

The Spaniards wrote of Cocos Island, “Allí se hallaron ciertos ídolos labrados de piedra”.

The archaeological findings in Heyerdahl (1966) confirm that the Galapagos Islands, at about the same distance from the continent, had similar visits by South American Indians.

Their mortal enemies were the Changuenes that were mentioned in Spanish documents at least from 1680, as living on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

1956-1977 Legislation to establish and protect the indigenous territories gave the Térraba the inalienable right to their traditional land, the use of their resources and some autonomy in self-governance.

2011 The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad – ICE) removed their equipment and suspended work in Térraba territory.

The Naso, who now live in the province of Bocas del Toro, Panama, are for the most part very poor subsistence farmers who supplement their earnings with the sale of the agricultural products (cocoa, oranges, plantains, etc.

[6] The Costa Rica branch has been successful in gaining United Nations financial support to build tourism facilities including hostel/cabin housing with plumbing and improvement to trails.

[7] The enormous scientific, hydroelectric and eco-tourism potential of the Naso people’s ancestral territory has attracted considerable international and national interest.

Beginning in the 1980s the Government of Panama transferred large sections of the region to its own system of protected areas (Palo Seco National Forest (BBPS) and La Amistad International Park (PILA).

These included a new law to recognize Naso territorial rights and jurisdiction in the Panamanian National Assembly, a World Bank-funded Biological Corridor project (CBMAP) promoting sustainable development in indigenous communities and protected areas, and a hydroelectric project sponsored by a Colombian utility company (Empresas Públicas de Medellín).

In 2004 King Tito was deposed following his approval of a hydro electric scheme on the Bonyic River which traverses Naso territory.