Bojaya

The Bojayá winds through the rainforests of Chocó to join the Atrato, the great river flowing north to the Gulf of Urabá. Emberá Dóbida communities have lived along its upper and middle reaches, using its meandering course to travel between their settlements. In 1686, amid resistance to Spanish rule in the Atrato country, Citará people escaped towards the Pacific by way of the Bojayá. Governor Juan Bueso de Valdés pursued fugitives up the river and across to the coast. In the late seventeenth century, Emberá communities also moved into the western tributaries of the Atrato, seeking refuge beyond the reach of colonial authorities.