Caubaco & Cabo

Dr Ilean Isaza commissioned our team to help tell the complex story from her 2022 paper “The Use of Maritime Spaces by the pre-Columbian Ancestors of Coiba and Cabo in the Coiba Archipelago, Panama”, published by Revista Contacto in Spanish.

The resulting three-page comic tells a common story of the Spanish Conquista: A short comic about how the Spanish used existing political animosity between quevis or caciques to their advantage by pitting one group against the other and supporting those Indigenous leaders with whom they had friendly relationships.

In 1516, the Spanish Conquistadores, Bartolomé Hurtado and Hernán Ponce, traveled to the island of Caubaco (modern-day Cebaco Island) in the Golfo de Montijo in Panama. There, they waited for the return of queví Caubaco. Once Caubaco returned from an expedition, the two sides created an alliance to fight against his rivals in the region, including queví Cabo.

The story’s focus on the confrontation between Caubaco and Cabo is of historical relevance. As Dr Isaza notes, the historical record from the Spanish notes that Cabo’s warriors wore shirts made from thick cotton which protected them from Spanish crossbow bolts. This is the only mention in the historical record of something like this being used by Indigenous groups in Panama. During meetings with Dr Isaza, Ian Cooke-Tapia suggested that this could possibly be a case of the Indigenous tribes having seen the technology at play from the Spanish conquistadores in the form of gambesons, thickly-padded Medieval armour made from cloth. This suggestion from Ian was relevant enough that it became part of the story, and a likely explanation with historical relevance to Dr Isaza’s research.

The narrative adaptation and script to the comic were written by Ian Cooke-Tapia, with editing by Dr Isaza. After approval, we developed storyboard sketches of the comic to ensure representation of elements were of historical relevance: arrangement of Indegenous dwellings, hair styles, tattoos, the shape and style of gold ornaments, as well as the shape of the gambesons.

This project has been used by Dr Isaza to increase engagement with her research. We’re currently exploring ways in which this story could be told in a graphic novel using the pages as case studies.

Script and writing by Ian Cooke-Tapia

Art by Ian Cooke-Tapia and Lowri Bowden.