Darien

The Darien Gap has an unrivalled position and has been a target for entrepreneurs wanting to establish a trading output since the 1500s; it remains a lawless no-mans land, one of the most dangerous places on earth.

Land of danger, land of opportunity

The Darien Gap got its name as the only break in the great Pan-American Highway. That road is 30,000 kilometres long and is said to run from Alaska to Argentina but in truth is stops here, defeated by Darien. The northern stretch of the road ends in Yaviza and the highway starts again around 70 miles east at Turbo in Colombia. The land in-between is passable only by canoe and foot. 

The Gap is stunning, with rainforest threaded with hundreds of rivers and rich with wildlife. Its status, a place what no-one truly controls, has for centuries made it a place for economic seekers —poor, ambitious, enslaved, and dispossessed—to seek shelter, solace and a fresh start. Today inside the Gap we discover modern economic chancers: refugees, timber dealers and drug runners. For some people wilderness means danger, for others it means opportunity. How does the economy of a no-mans’ land work?