The firstindigenous peoples of Costa Rica werehunters and gatherers, and when theSpanishconquerors arrived,Costa Rica was divided in two distinctcultural areas due to its geographical location in theIntermediate Area, betweenMesoamerican and theAndean cultures, with influences of both cultures.[1][2]
Christopher Columbus first dropped anchor in Costa Rica in 1503 atIsla Uvita. His forces overcame theindigenous people. Subsequent Spanish explorers and colonizers incorporated the territory into theCaptaincy General of Guatemala as a province ofNew Spain in 1524. For the next 300 years, Costa Rica was a colony of Spain.As a result, Costa Rica's culture has been greatly influenced by the culture of Spain.[3] During this period, Costa Rica remained sparsely developed and impoverished. Following theMexican War of Independence (1810–1821), Costa Rica became part of theFirst Mexican Empire in 1821. In 1823, Costa Rica joined theFederal Republic of Central America, but degrading relations with the other states caused it to secede in 1838. But following its independence, its economy struggled due to a lack of connections with European suppliers. In 1856, Costa Rica, along with several other Central American countries, joined theFilibuster War to preventWilliam Walker from mounting a take-over of the Nicaraguan government. After 1869, Costa Rica established a democratic government.[3]
In 1885Bernardo Soto Alfaro joins to El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico to theBarrios' War of Reunification against the Guatemala of Justo Rufino Barrios and Honduras.[4] After the 1948 General elections started theCosta Rican Civil War between the Ejército de Liberación Nacional led byJosé Figueres Ferrer, and the Costa Rican government led byRafael Calderón Guardia. In 1955, theCalderonistas tried to overthrow the José Figueres Ferrer Government in a failed invasion with the help of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic.[5] Figueres became the president for 18 months until the restauration of theOtilio Ulate's presidency.[6] After theCosta Rican Civil War in 1948, the government drafted a newconstitution, guaranteeing universal suffrage and the dismantling of the military. Today, Costa Rica is a democracy that relies ontechnology andeco-tourism for its economy. Althoughpoverty has declined since the turn of the 21st century, economic problems still exist. Costa Rica is facing problems ofunderemployment, foreign and internal debt, and a trade deficiency.[3]
The oldest evidence of human occupation inCosta Rica is associated with the existence of groups of hunter-gatherers about 10,000 to 19,000 yearsBC, with ancient archaeological evidence (stone tool making) located in theTurrialba Valley, at sites called Guardiria and Florence, with matching quarry and workshop areas with presence of typeclovis spearheads and South American inspiredarrows. All this suggests the possibility that in this area two different cultures coexisted.
The people of this era were nomadic. They were organized in family-based bands of about 20 to 30 members. Their diet consisted ofmegafauna, such as giantarmadillos andsloths,mastodons, etc. These became extinct about 8,000 years before the modern era. The first settlers had to adapt to hunting smaller animals and develop appropriate strategies to adjust to the new conditions.
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InPre-Columbian times, thenative peoples in what is nowCosta Rica were divided in twocultural areas due to its geographical location in theIntermediate Area, between theMesoamerican and theAndean cultural regions.[1][2]
The northwest of the country, theNicoya Peninsula, was the southernmost point of Mesoamerican cultural influence when theSpanishconquerors came in the sixteenth century. TheNicoya culture was the largestcacicazgo on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.[1] The central and southern portions of the country belonged to theIsthmo-Colombian cultural area with strongMuisca influences, as these were part of territories occupied predominantly by speakers of theChibchan languages.[2][7] TheDiquis culture flourished from 700 CE to 1530 CE and were well known for their crafts in metal and stonework.[8]
The indigenous people have influenced modern Costa Rican culture to a relatively small degree. In the years soon after European encounter, many of the people died due toinfectious diseases, such asmeasles andsmallpox, which were endemic among the Europeans but to which they had no immunity.[9]
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The colonial period began whenChristopher Columbus reached the eastern coast of Costa Rica on hisfourth voyage on September 18, 1502. Numerous subsequent Spanish expeditions followed, eventually leading to the first Spanish colony in Costa Rica,Villa de Bruselas [es], founded in 1524.[10]
During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of theCaptaincy General of Guatemala, which was nominally part of theViceroyalty of New Spain (i.e.,Mexico). In practice it operated as a largely autonomous entity within theSpanish Empire. Costa Rica's distance from the capital inGuatemala, its legal prohibition under Spanish law against trading with its southern neighbors inPanama, then part of theViceroyalty of New Granada (i.e.,Colombia), and the lack of resources such asgold andsilver, resulted in Costa Rica attracting few inhabitants. It was a poor, isolated, and sparsely inhabited region within the Spanish Empire.[11] A Spanish governor in 1719 described Costa Rica as "the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America."[12]
Many historians say that the area suffered a lack of indigenous population available forforced labor, which meant that most of the Costa Rican settlers had to work their own land. This prevented the establishment of largehaciendas. For all these reasons Costa Rica was by and large unappreciated and overlooked by theSpanish Crown and left to develop on its own. The small landowners' relative poverty, the lack of a large indigenous labor force, the population's ethnic and linguistic homogeneity, and Costa Rica's isolation from the Spanish colonial centers in Mexico and the Andes, all contributed to the development of an autonomous and individualistic agrarian society. Even the Governor had to farm his own crops and tend to his own garden due to his poverty.[13] The failure to build a colonial society based on indigenous and slave labor led to a peasant economy in the 1700s.[14]
During the time of conquest, as many as twenty distinct indigenous societies, numbering in the hundreds of thousands and speaking many different languages, inhabited the area.[14] The Spanish conquest of Costa Rica lasted more than half a century after it started 1510.[14] The genocidal enslavement of the indigenous societies of Nicoya on the Pacific North coast was the conquest's first stage. Its second phase began with fruitless attempts to consolidate a Spanish settlement on the country's Caribbean side. In the process, Spaniards reduced the indigenous population to the point of extinction through disease, war, reprisals, relocation and brutal exploitation. The Native American population stood at about 120,000 in 1569 and had fallen to 10,000 by 1611.[14][disputed –discuss]
In the early 19th century,Napoleon's occupation of Spain led to the outbreak of revolts all across Spanish America. In New Spain, all of the fighting by those seeking independence was done in the center of that area from 1810 to 1821, what today is central Mexico. Once the Viceroy was defeated in the capital city—todayMexico City—in 1821, the news of independence was sent to all the territories of New Spain, including the Intendencies of the formerCaptaincy General of Guatemala. Costa Rica joined the other Central American Intendancies in a joint declaration of independence from Spain, the1821 Act of Independence.
On October 13, 1821, the documents arrived atCartago, and an emergency meeting was called upon by GovernorJuan Manuel de Cañas [es]. There were many ideas on what to do upon gaining independence, such as joining Mexico, joining Guatemala or Nueva Granada (today Colombia). A group was declared (Junta de Legados), which created the temporaryJunta Superior Gubernativa de Costa Rica [es] while, "the clouds clear up" ("Mientras se aclaraban los nublados del día"), was a famous phrase of the events of the day.
Independence from Spain was acknowledged and ratified on October 29, 1821, by the colonial authorities. It was then ratified in the cities ofSan José on November 1, 1821, atCartago on November 3, 1821, atHeredia on November 11, 1821, andAlajuela on November 25, 1821.[15]
After the declaration of independence, the New Spain parliament intended to establish a commonwealth whereby the King of Spain,Ferdinand VII, would also be Emperor of New Spain, but in which both countries were to be governed by separate laws and with their own legislative offices. Should the king refuse the position, the law provided for a member of theHouse of Bourbon to accede to the New Spain throne. Ferdinand VII did not recognize the colony's independence and said that Spain would not allow any other European prince to take the throne of New Spain.
By request of Parliament, the president of the regency,Agustín de Iturbide, was proclaimed emperor of New Spain, which was renamed Mexico. TheMexican Empire was the official name given to this monarchical regime from 1821 to 1823. The territory of the Mexican Empire included the continental intendancies and provinces of New Spain proper (including those of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala) (See:Central America under Mexican rule).On 5 April 1823 theBattle of Ochomogo was fought between imperialist forces from Cartago led byJoaquín de Oreamuno who wanted to join the Mexican Empire and republican forces led byGregorio José Ramírez who preferred to remain independent. The Republicans won and the capital was moved from Cartago to San José.
As early as then, Costa Ricans already had overseas impact since Costa Ricans were one of the Latin American nationalities that had soldiers and officers in the Philippines who supported their Emperor,Andrés Novales[16] in his failed revolt against Spain.
In 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted EmperorAgustín de Iturbide. A new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American Intendancies to decide their own fate. That year, theUnited Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American Intendancies under GeneralManuel José Arce. The Intendancies took the new name of States. The United Provinces federation, not strongly united to begin with, rapidly disintegrated under the pressures of intra-provincial rivalries.
Following its secession from theFederal Republic of Central America in 1838, Costa Rica had no regulartrade routes established to export theircoffee to European markets. Lack ofinfrastructure caused problems in transportation: the coffee-growing areas were mainly in the Central Valley and had access only to the port ofPuntarenas on the Pacific coast. Before thePanama Canal opened, ships from Europe had to sail aroundCape Horn in order to get to the Pacific Coast. In 1843, the country established a trade route to Europe with the help ofWilliam Le Lacheur, aGuernsey merchant and shipowner.
In 1856,William Walker, an Americanfilibuster, began incursions into Central America. After landing inNicaragua, he proclaimed himself as president of Nicaragua and re-instatedslavery, which had been abolished.[17] He intended to expand into Costa Rica and after he entered that territory, the country declaredwar against his forces. Led by Commander in Chief of the Army of Costa Rica, PresidentJuan Rafael Mora Porras, the filibusters were defeated and forced out of the country. Costa Rican forces followed the filibusters intoRivas, Nicaragua, where in a final battle, William Walker and his forces were finally pushed back. In this final battle,Juan Santamaría, a drummer boy fromAlajuela, lost his life torching the filibusters' stronghold. He is today remembered as a national hero.[18]
An era of peaceful democracy in Costa Rica began in 1869 with elections. Costa Rica has avoided much of the violence that has plaguedCentral America. Since the late nineteenth century, only two brief periods of violence have marred its republican development. In1917–19,Federico Tinoco Granados ruled as adictator.
In 1948,José Figueres Ferrer led an armed uprising in the wake of a disputed presidential election. "With more than 2,000 dead, the 44-dayCosta Rican Civil War resulting from this uprising was the bloodiest event in twentieth-century Costa Rican history."[19] The victoriousjunta drafted a constitution guaranteeing free elections with universal suffrage and the abolition of the military. Figueres became a national hero, winning the first election under the new constitution in 1953. Since then Costa Rica has been one of the few democracies to operate without a standing army.[20] The nation has held 17 successive presidential elections, all peaceful,the latest being in 2022. In May 2022, Costa Rica's new presidentRodrigo Chaves, right-wing former finance minister, was sworn in for a four-year presidential term. He had won theelection runoff against former presidentJose María Figueres.[21]
Costa Rica's economy went under a transformation in 1978. The country went from being "an economic development success story" to entering a severe socio-economic crisis. Costa Rica relied on the exportation ofbananas and coffee. In 1978, coffee prices dropped, and its revenues declined. In 1979, the price of oil, a main imported item, increased sharply and rapidly, plunging the country into crisis. In order to help improve the economy, PresidentRodrigo Carazo continued to borrow money internationally. This led the country into furtherdebt.[22]
Once a largely agricultural country, Costa Rica has transformed to relying on technology industry and services, andeco-tourism. Costa Rica's major source ofexport income is technology-based. Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and other technology-related firms have established operations in Costa Rica. Local companies create and exportsoftware as well as other computer-related products. Tourism is growing at an accelerated pace, and many believe that income from this tourism may soon become the major contributor to the nation's GDP. Traditional agriculture, particularly coffee and bananas, continues to be an important part of Costa Rica's exports.
During the period c.1864-1900,José María Figueroa Oreamuno Album and Notebooks record details of about Costa Rican current events, poltics and ethnography amongst other topics.[23]
General:
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