ENTITY · CONCEPT

Panama Canal Zone West Indian migration

Well supported

Migration of tens of thousands of West Indian labourers, many Jamaican, to build the Panama Railroad from the 1850s and the Panama Canal into the early twentieth century, seeding the Afro-Caribbean communities and musical cross-pollination that later made Panama the birthplace of reggae en español.

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At a glance

Type: concept
Confidence: Well supported
Era: Open era →

Society, politics & receptionDiaspora & global influence

Connections

In stories

Story · Well supportedReggae en español: Panama to the world

West Indian canal labourers, Panamanian raggamuffin deejays and a wave of Spanish- and Portuguese-language bands carried Jamaican reggae across Latin America.