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is a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest separatingPanamaandColombia. It measures just over 160 km (100 miles) long and about 50
km (30 miles) wide.It is not possible to cross betweenSouth AmericaandCentral
Americaby landwithout passing through the Darién Gap. Roadbuilding through this
area is expensive, andthe environmental toll is steep. Political consensus in favor of road construction has notemerged. There is no existing road connection through
Darién Gap
connecting North/Central America withSouth America. It is therefore
the missing link of thePan-American Highway.The Colombianside of the Darién Gap is dominated primarily by theriver deltaof
theAtrato River,which creates aflatmarshlandat least 80 km (50 miles) wide, half
of this beingswampland. The Panamanian side, in sharp contrast, is a mountainousrain forest, with terrain reaching from 60m (200 ft MSL) in the valley floors to
1845 m (5900 ft MSL) at the tallest peaks (CerroTacarcuna).
Contents
[hide]1 Pan-American Highway2 People3 Natural resources4 History5 Politics6 See also7 References8 External links
[edit] Pan-American Highway
The Pan AmericanHighway with the DariénGap between Panama andColombia.
Main article:Pan-American Highway
ThePan-American Highwayis a system of roads measuring about 26,000 km(16,000 miles) long that crosses through the entirety of North, Central, and SouthAmerica, with the sole exception of the Darién Gap. Thus, the Darién Gap hashistorically been a sore spot for businesses looking to expand their markets. On theColombian side, the highway terminates at about 27 km (17 miles) west of Barranquillita, atLomas Aisiadas(Casa 40) located at
7°38
ʹ
N, 76°57
ʹ
W. On the Panamanian side, the
road terminus is the town of Yavizaat8°9
ʹ
N,77°41
ʹ
W. This marks a straight-line separation of about 100 km (62 statute miles).In between is marshland and forest.For decades, efforts have been made to remedy this missing link in the Pan-American highway. Planning efforts began in 1971 with the help of U.S. funding,but was halted in 1974 after complaints by environmentalists. Another effort tobuild the road began in 1992, but by 1994 aUnited Nationsagency revealed that itwould cause extensive environmental damage. There is evidence in favor of theargument that the Darién Gap has prevented the spread of diseased cattle intoCentral and North America, which have not seenfoot and mouth diseasesince 1954, and at least since the 1970s this has been a substantial factor in preventing a roadlink through Darién Gap.Embera-WounaanandKunaIndians have also expressed
concern that the road would bring about the potential erosion of their cultures.A United States Department of Defense Joint Operations Graphic chart published in1995, as well as Expedia World Maps, show a road under construction linkingYaviza via a western route along the Pacific Colombian coast. It is unclear whetherthis road is a real feature or not.As of April 2004 there was no apparent active construction of a road beyondYaviza, although some improvements to the road as far as Yaviza appeared to be inprogress.
[edit] People
The Darién Gap is home to theEmbera-WounaanandKunaIndians (and former
home of theCueva peoplebefore their extermination in the 16th century). Travel isoften by dugout canoe. On the Panamanian side, Yaviza is the main cultural center.It had a reported population of 1700 in 1980. Corn,mandioca,plantainsand
bananas are staple crops wherever land is developed.
[edit] Natural resources
Two major national parks exist in the Darién Gap:Darién National Parkin PanamaandLos Katios National Parkin Colombia. The Darién Gap forests had extensivecedrelaandmahoganycover at one time, but many of these trees were removed by
loggers.The Darién National Park covers around 5,790 square kilometres of land and wasestablished in 1980. It is the largest national park in Central America.
[edit] History
The Gap is frequented by Four Wheel drive (4WD) and other vehicles that attempttranscontinental journeys.The gap itself was first traversed by theLand RoverLa Cucaracha Cariñosa (TheAffectionate Cockroach) and aJeepof the Trans-Darién Expedition 1959-60,crewed by Amado Araúz (Panama), his wife Reina Torres de Araúz, the late formerSASman Richard E. Bevir (UK), and engineer Terence John Whitfield
(Australia)
[1]
. They leftChepo,Panamaon2 February 1960and reachedQuibdó,
Colombiaon17 June 1960, averaging 201 m (220 yd) per hour over 136 days. They
traveled a great deal of the distance up the vast Atrato River.In 1972, aRange Roveron the British Trans-Americas Expedition led byJohn
Blashford-Snellclaimed to be the first vehicle-based expedition to traverse bothAmerican continents north-to-south through the Darién Gap. However, thisexpedition used boats to bypass theAtrato Swampin Colombia which lies on the'direct' Trans-Americas route and received substantial support from theBritishArmy.The first true overland Trans-Americas Expedition was that of British cyclistIanHibellwho rode fromCape HorntoAlaskabetween 1971 and 1973. Hibell took the
'direct' overland south-to-north route including an overland crossing of the AtratoSwamp in Colombia. Hibell completed his crossing accompanied by two othercycling companions who had ridden with him from Cape Horn, but neither of thesecontinued with Hibell on to Alaska. Hibell's 'Cape Horn to Alaska' expedition formspart of his 1984 book
Into the Remote Places
.The first motorcycle crossing was by Robert L. Webb in March 1975. Another fourwheel drive crossing was in 1978-1979 by Mark A Smith and his team. Smith andhis team drove the 400 km (250 mile) stretch of the gap in 30 days using five stockJeep CJ-7s. They traveled many miles up the Atrato River via barges. Mark Smithhas released his book
Driven by a Dream
, which documents the crossing. The firstall-land auto crossing was in 1985-1987 by Loren Upton in aCJ-5 Jeep, 741 days totravel 125 miles all on land. This crossing is doucmented in the 1992 GuinnessBook of Records. In addition Upton returned in 1995 and became the first to drive a
motorcycle, Rokon two-wheel drive, all on land through the Darien Gap, 49 days.More information on both of Upton's expeditions can be found at[1].There have been several notable crossings by foot.Sebastian Snowcrossed the GapwithWade Davisin 1975 as part of his unbroken walk fromTierra Del Fuegoto
Panama City. The trip is documented in his 1976 book
The Rucksack Man
. In 1981,George Meegan crossed the gap on a similar journey. He too started in Tierra DelFuego and eventually ended in Alaska. His 1988 biography
The Longest Walk
describes the trip and includes a 25 page chapter on his foray through the Gap. In2001, as a part of his Goliath Expedition, a trek to forge an unbroken footpath fromthe tip of S. America, across theBering Straitand back to his home in England,Karl Bushby(UK) crossed the gap on foot, using no transport or boats, fromColombiatoPanama.
The last person known to have successfully crossed the region was Erik Jorgensen(U.S. citizenship) in December 2005.
[
citation needed
]
[edit] Politics
The Darién Gap is subject to the presence and activities of three Colombian rebelgroups. These include theUnited Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary group headed by Carlos Castaño;
[
citation needed
]
theNationalLiberation Army (ELN); and the left-wingRevolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). All three groups have committed human rights violations
[2]
.The U.S. State Department reported that combined, the ELN and FARC have beenresponsible for 51 kidnappings and ten murders of U.S. citizens. Kidnappings arecommon for political and financial gain. The AUC has allegedly helped Darien Gaptravelers in isolated instances.
[
citation needed
]
Among the political victims of the Darién Gap were three missionaries whodisappeared from Pucuro on the Panamanian side in 1993.
[
citation needed
]
Britishtravelers were kidnapped in Darién Gap in 2000 and held for nine months, this isdocumented in the book
The Cloud Garden
by Tom Hart Dyke and Paul Winder. In2003,Robert Young Pelton, on assignment for
National Geographic,
and twoteammates were detained by AUC rebels for one week in a highly publicizedincident.
[3][4]
[edit] See also
Lionel WaferGulf of DariénDarién scheme
[edit] References
1.
^
http://www.geocities.com/~landroverpty/trans.htm2.
^
http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/col-summary-eng3.
^
3 Americans freed, 2 journalists still captive in Colombia.
CNN.com
.Retrieved on2007-05-22.
4.
^
Markey, Sean (January 22, 2003).Adventure Writer Reportedly Kidnappedin Panama. National Geographic News. Retrieved on2007-05-15.
[edit] External links
Trans Darien Expedition 1960Trans Darien Expedition 1960 - Update by Terence John WhitfieldDarien Gap Guide Book"Pan-American Highway and the Environment""The Darien Gap" (1996)Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari%C3%A9n_Gap"Categories:All articles with unsourced statements|Articles with unsourced
statements since December 2007|Articles with unsourced statements since June2007|Landforms of Panama|Landforms of Colombia
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