Ecuador: The legend of the Panama hat

Given its name, most people assume the Panama hat hails from Panama. Few people realize that the "sombrero fino" is actually made in Ecuador, and that its misleading name can be traced back more than 150 years to European immigrants traveling through South America.

During the California Gold Rush of 1848, soldiers of fortune poured into the Golden State. European adventurers often traveled to San Francisco via Panama, where they used the light-colored hats as sun protection. When they left, they carried the hats to California, where they gained international fame.

The only problem was that the hats were not actually made in Panama. The fine Toquila straw from which they are woven only grows along the Ecuadorian Pacific coast. The Panamanians simply imported the hats, leading customers to dub them "Panama hats." The mistaken belief that the hat is produced in Panama persists today, and as a result hardly anybody knows about the little Ecuadorian town of Montechristi, considered to be the true birthplace of the sombrero fino.