Cumbia is a music genre

Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...

 popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It has given rise to numerous sub-genres and local scenes.

It originated in Colombia's Caribbean coastal region, of the musical and cultural fusion of Indian

American Indian

American Indian may refer to:*Native Americans in the United States*Indigenous people of the Americas, the inhabitants of North and South America prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus*Indian American, an American with ancestors from India...

, black slaves from Africa and, to a lesser extent, of the Spanish during the time of the Cologne in the old country Pocabuy settled in the Momposina Depression.

In Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, cumbia dates from the colonial era and has its epicenter in the central provinces

Azuero Peninsula

Azuero Peninsula is a large peninsula in southern Panama. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean in the south; the Pacific and Gulf of Montijo to the west, and by the Gulf of Panama in the east...

.