San Blas Kuna

San Blas Kuna (autonymously Tule, also written Kuna or Guna) is the language of the Guna people of the Caribbean coast of Panama and the borderlands of Colombia. The Kuna live primarily in the Guna Yala (San Blas) Comarca, an autonomous indigenous territory established in 1953 after the 1925 Tule Revolution that won Kuna self-rule. Linguistically, Kuna is a Chibchan language though its position within Chibchan is debated — it shows substantial divergence from other Chibchan languages and may represent an early branch off the family tree. The Kuna are world-famous for their distinctive cultural artifacts: molas (intricate reverse-applique fabric panels created by Kuna women) which are now collected as folk art globally, and the matrilineal cultural organization that gives Kuna women significant economic and political authority. The Kuna have one of the strongest indigenous polities in the Americas, with an active Cultural Congress that publishes Kuna-language books and protects intellectual property over Kuna cultural designs.

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