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The Guna people have long inhabited the Caribbean coast and its offshore islands, maintaining communities connected by sea, fishing, trade and family networks. Their territory extends across coastal forests, rivers and islands rather than conforming to the compact shape of a conventional town. Guna society developed its own languages, political structures and communal traditions, with village assemblies playing an important role in collective decisions. The sea provided food and routes between settlements, while the mainland supplied access to forests and rivers. This enduring relationship with both environments remains visible in the organisation of island villages and in the continuing authority of Guna customary practices.

Spanish expeditions reached Panama's Caribbean coast during the sixteenth century, bringing new systems of trade, mission activity and territorial control. Colonial influence was uneven in the islands and coastal forests, where difficult geography and Guna resistance limited sustained outside administration. Over subsequent centuries, the region became part of wider Caribbean networks involving Indigenous communities, colonial authorities, merchants and seafarers. European diseases, changing trade patterns and pressure from neighbouring populations affected the Guna, but the archipelago retained a strong degree of local autonomy. The scattered settlement pattern and maritime orientation that visitors see today are closely linked to this history of mobility and resistance.

When Panama separated from Colombia in 1903, the Guna territories became part of the new republic, although relations with the national government were tense. Attempts to impose outside administration, schools and policing challenged Guna authority and contributed to growing dissatisfaction in the islands and on the mainland coast. In February 1925, the Guna Revolution broke out, led by figures including Nele Kantule and Olokindibipilele. The conflict was brought to an end through an agreement with Panama later that year, but it established a lasting precedent for recognising Guna control over local affairs. The episode remains a defining moment in the political history of Guna Yala.

Panama formally created the San Blas Indigenous Reserve in 1938, establishing a legal framework for Guna territorial administration. The arrangement evolved over time, and the territory is now known officially as Guna Yala, although San Blas remains widely used by visitors. The comarca's governance is exercised through Guna institutions, including the Congreso General Guna, while individual communities retain important local responsibilities. This political development helped protect customary land and marine relationships during a period when national development pressures were increasing elsewhere in Panama. It also explains why travel in the islands operates according to community permissions and local rules rather than ordinary resort conventions.

During the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Guna Yala became increasingly known for small-scale tourism, sailing and its seemingly untouched Caribbean scenery. Tourism has brought income to communities but also raised questions about waste, freshwater, resource use and the protection of Indigenous authority. The islands' accommodation remains largely community-based, with visitors staying in modest cabins or family-run lodges and travelling by locally operated boats. In 2011, the territory's official name was changed from Kuna Yala to Guna Yala, reflecting the Guna pronunciation and spelling. Contemporary travel therefore takes place within a living autonomous territory rather than a conventional holiday resort.