Cueva was an Indigenous language of Panama, now extinct, with limited attestation and often misclassified within linguistic studies. The Cueva people experienced a significant population decline between 1510 and 1535 due to conflicts, diseases, and the effects of Spanish colonization. By the 17th and 18th centuries, the Guna had migrated into the former Cueva territory, repopulating the area.
The history of Panama includes the history of the Isthmus of Panama prior to European colonization.
Before the arrival of Europeans, Panama was widely settled by peoples speaking Chibchan languages, Choco languages, and Cueva language. There is no accurate knowledge of the size of the Pre-Columbian indigenous population. Estimates range as high as two million people. They lived mainly by fishing, hunting, gathering edible plants and fruits, growing corn, squash, and root crops, and lived in wattle and daub houses with thatched rooves of palm leaves.