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Costa Rica's History
Home » Costa Rica » History and Overview of Costa Rica » Costa Rica's HistoryPosted by Your Guide on May 10, 2006 4:52 PM
Because of the uninviting landscape, Costa Rica was very isolated and lacked civilized development for many, many years. The only population that inhabited the area before it was discovered by the Spanish in the 1500’s consisted of five individual tribes that lived independently of each other in the different secluded regions of the country. In fact, no more than 30,000 people existed in this area even though the countries to the north and south of Costa Rica were filled with the complex civilizations of Incas, Aztecs and Mayans.
Christopher Columbus had set sail for the city of Limon in 1502, when he discovered the sight of Costa Rica’s shores. Supposedly, he took one look at the beautiful coastline and thought the land deserved the name “rich coast.” The word spread back to Spain that Columbus had found a land filled with precious metals and European settlers started to flock to the country. When they arrived it didn’t take long to realize that there was, in deed, no precious metals here, but only a land full of swamps, marshes, jungles, rain forests and mountains as high as 13,000 feet. Over the next 60 years there were no settlements to speak of because of all the obstacles that they encountered.
The first permanent settlers set up their residence in 1561 on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. Juan Vasquez de Coronado was appointed governor by the Spanish and was sent to establish a capital in Cartago. The original thought was that the Spanish settlers would conquer the Indians and have them as slaves to work the land. The problem – there weren’t any Indians to conquer and the settlers had to do the work themselves. This colony quickly became impoverished because their settlement was so isolated that nobody paid much attention to further developing the area and there were no workers. The settlement was further devastated by volcanic eruptions that basically destroyed all that they had worked to set up.
Things turned around a little in the 18th century due to the opening of trade ports. Cocoa, tobacco, sugar, wheat and flour were all harvested and traded and the settlements finally started to experience some prosperity. Towns such as Heredia, San Jose, Alajuela and Escazu started to pop up and they population steadily increased.
In 1821, Central America gained independence from Spain. Costa Rica was so isolated from the rest of their neighboring countries that word of the independence didn’t even reach them until months later. There was a question amongst the people of whether Costa Rica should become a part of Mexico or become part of the new Central American confederation. This conflict led to a Civil War in 1823 among the Costa Rican people. The people of San Jose won and Costa Rica officially became part of Central America. The first head of state, Juan Mora Fernandez, was elected in 1824. He is credited with establishing a public education system and the giving land grants to farmers who wanted to raise coffee beans. The coffee industry exploded produced an elite class of wealthy Costa Ricans who eventually overthrew the government and established their own president.
The capital city continued to move back and forth between the four main cities in the country at the time: San Jose, Cartago, Heredia and Escazu. San Jose became the eventual winner and is still the capital city today. The rest of Central America was war-ridden, but Costa Rica managed to stay ignored and untouched. However, there was one American who had his sites set on conquering Costa Rica and turning it into a slave nation. William Walker wanted to annex the country to the United States and use its residents as slaves for the Americans. In conjunction with Nicaragua, the Costa Rican military helped defeat Walker and thwart his plans.
Political turmoil continued throughout the country for the next decade until General Tom Guardia took over power in 1870. He ruled Costa Rica as a dictatorship for twelve years, but made major advancements that helped Costa Rica get back on track. His policies included compulsory education, cutting back on military numbers, taxing earnings from the coffee industry to finance public projects and initiating the construction of a railroad from San Jose to the Caribbean coast.
At the start of the 20th century, coffee was still the dominant industry in Costa Rica and most prominent political figures seemed to descend from these elite families. This was a time of peace due mostly to the year-long growing season for farmers and the fact that rich volcanic soil created work and funds for even peasant workers. The only exception came in 1940 when another civil war broke out – this time over which political party would take Costa Rica even further into development. The war was short, but over 2000 people were killed within the 40 days.
Jose Maria Figueres Ferrer won this civil war with the support of the Guatemalan and Cuban governments. Figueres assumed power over Costa Rica and implemented even more changes to the Costa Rican culture that included the banning of the Communists Party, giving women the right to vote, granting full citizenship to blacks, establishing a term limit for presidents and nationalizing banks and insurance companies. He was considered a national hero when he died in 1990. Because of his advancements, Costa Rica has remained a peaceful and politically stable country, making it a place inviting for tourists to come and enjoy without worrying about political unrest.
Sources:
1. http://centralamerica.com
2. www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2019.htm
3. www.crhotspots.com/travel.htm
4. www.fodors.com
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