The country of Panama is a land bridge that connects not only Central America to South America, but also by extension North America as well. The narrow strip of land was a strategic point of access for Spanish treasure fleets coming from Peru on the Pacific side to cross the 
continent and travel back to Spain via the Atlantic. It would seem that Panama was a well-traversed piece of land, even for the indigenous peoples there.
By early Spanish accounts, the native people found Panama were very diverse and experienced nomads using the isthmus to travel between present-day Colombia in South America and Costa Rica to the north. Many indigenous names have been associated with pre-Columbian Panama including the Chibchan, Cocle, Cueva, and most modern, the Cuna or Kuna people. The Kuna people inhabited the isthmus area after migrating west from Colombia due to Spanish conquistador encroachment. The people who inhabited the isthmus were an agrarian sort, and "regional archeological studies depict the complex material culture and lifestyle of ancient Panamanians."
Scholars debate the various reasons for the lack of archeological and anthropological evidence and artifacts to support definitive indigenous settlements. The reasons vary from nomadic tendencies to diseases that ravaged the isthmus once the Spanish arrived. A salient point for the lack of indigenous history is the lack of modern Amerindians in Panama itself. The absence of surviving peoples beside the Kuna points to what one scholar believes as the “completeness of Indian collapse during the (Spanish) conquest”.
Ward, Christopher. Historical Writing On Colonial Panama, Hispanic American Historical Review. Vol. 69, No. 4: Duke University Press. 1989. Pgs. 691-713.
