The Emberá tribe originates from the Darien region in Panamá and the Choco region of Colombia. They have lived in this area for centuries, long before there were countries called Panamá and Colombia and before the first Spanish explorer set foot in the new world. Nobody knows if the Emberá have always been in this region or migrated from elsewhere. There are rumors that they have ancestors in Brazil and that they possibly came originally from Polynesia.