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History of Costa Rica
Costa Rica is one of a kind. While imparting to its neighbors the
encounters of frontier misuse and thing send out reliance, Costa Rica
figured out how to transcend. Rather than repeating cycles of tyranny and
neediness, Costa Rica gloats a persisting popular government and the
most elevated ways of life in Central America. Besides, Rica is one of a kind among all countries for its "unarmed" political majority rule government and
"green" monetary upheaval.
>> Lost civilization>> Heirs of Columbus>> Central valley Sunday>> Noble homeland>> Coffee Rica>> Banana empire>> Unarmed democracy>> Oliver’s army>> Paradise found>> Ticos today
People have occupied the downpour woodlands of Costa Rica for a long
time. The district since quite a while ago served as a crossing point for
America's local societies. Around 500 years back, on the eve of European disclosure, it is guesstimated that
upwards of 400,000 individuals lived in today's Costa Rica.
Information about these pre-Columbian societies is sparse. The remaining parts of lost human advancements were washed away by exuberant
downpours, and Spanish winners were more plan on devastating as opposed to portraying local ways of life. Up to
this point, Costa Ricans demonstrated minimal enthusiasm for their old past.
On his fourth and final voyage to the New World, in 1502, Christopher
Columbus was forced to drop anchor near today’s Puerto Limón after a
hurricane damaged his ship. Waiting for repairs, Columbus ventured into the verdant terrain and exchanged gifts with the friendly natives. He
returned from this encounter, claiming to have seen ‘more gold in two days
than in four years in Española.’ Columbus dubbed the stretch of
shoreline from Honduras to Panama as Veragua, but it was his excited
descriptions of ‘la costa rica’ that gave the region its lasting name.
Anxious to claim its bounty, Columbus petitioned the Spanish Crown to have
himself appointed governor. But by the time he returned to Seville, his royal
patron Queen Isabella was on her deathbed, and King Ferdinand awarded
the prize to a rival. Columbus never returned to the ‘Rich Coast’. Worn
down by ill health and court politics, he died in 1506, a very wealthy man.
Central valley Sunday
Central America was a loosely administered colony. Its political-
military headquarters was in Guatemala and the closest bishop was
in Nicaragua. Lacking strategic significance or exploitable riches,
Costa Rica became a minor provincial outpost.
Costa Rica’s colonial path diverged from the typical Spanish pattern in
that a powerful landholding elite and slave-based economy never gained
prominence. Instead of large estates, mining operations and coastal cities,
modest-sized villages of small-holders developed in the interior Central
Valley. They toiled six days a week, while Central Valley Sundays were for
prayer and rest.
In national lore, the stoic, self-sufficient farmer provided the backbone for ‘rural democracy.’ Recent historical research shows that colonial society was more complex than this view suggests; still,
the Central Valley was a relatively egalitarian corner of the Spanish empire.
Colonial life centered on agriculture. Costa Ricans grew corn, beans and
plantains for subsistence, and produced sugar, cacao and tobacco for sale.
Despite ample rainfall and rich soil, the Central Valley struggled to prosper
In 1821 the Americas wriggled free of Spain’s imperial grip. Mexico declared
independence for itself as well as Central America. The Central American colonies declared independence from
Mexico. These events hardly disturbed Costa Rica, which learned of its
liberation a month after the fact. With an empire up for grabs, the region
descended into conflict.
In the 19th century, the riches that Costa Rica had long promised
were uncovered, when it was realized that the soil and climate of the Central Valley highlands
were ideal for coffee cultivation. Costa Rica led Central America in introducing the caffeinated red
bean, which remade the impoverished country into the
wealthiest in the region.
When an export market was discovered, the government actively promoted coffee to farmers by providing free saplings. At
first, Costa Rican producers exported their crop to nearby South Americans, who
processed the beans and re-exported the product to Europe. By the 1840s, local merchants had wised up. They built up domestic capacity and scoped out their own overseas markets. They persuaded
the captain of the HMS Monarch to transport several hundred sacks of Costa Rican coffee to London, percolating the
beginning of a beautiful friendship.
The coffee trade unintentionally gave rise to Costa Rica’s next export boom –
bananas. Getting coffee out to world markets necessitated a rail link from
the central highlands to the coast and Limón’s deep harbor made an ideal port. Inland was dense jungle and infested swamps. The government contracted the task to Minor Keith,
nephew of an American railroad tycoon.
The project was a disaster. Malaria and accidents forced a constant replenishing of
workers. Tico recruits gave way to US convicts and Chinese indentured servants,
who were replaced by freed Jamaican slaves. Keith’s two brothers died during
the arduous first decade that laid 100km of track.
Early Costa Rican politics followed the Central American pattern of violence and dictatorship. In the 19th century, a few favored aristocrats competed to control patronage in the new state. The military, the Church and, most of all, the coffee
barons were the main sources of influence. Presidents were more often removed at
gunpoint, than by the ballot box.
The sovereignty of the small nations of Central America was limited by their northern neighbor, the USA. Big sticks, gun boats and dollar diplomacy were instruments of Yankee
hegemony. The USA was actively hostile toward leftist politics. In the 1970s, radical socialists forced the military oligarchies of
Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua onto the defensive. In 1979 the rebellious
Sandinistas toppled the American-backed Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. Alarmed by
the Sandinistas’ Soviet and Cuban ties, fervently anticommunist President Ronald
Reagan decided it was time to intervene. The Cold War arrived in the hot tropics.
As Spanish conquistadors hacked their way into Costa Rica, the dense rain forest was an obstacle to the quest for treasure. Five
hundred years later, the hidden wealth was discovered to be the rain forest itself. Today Costa Rica is a glittering gem of the
world environmental movement.
Enjoy The Costa Rica Life
>>A brief history of Costa Rica >>Tips on the most proficient method to choose where you need to live in Costa Rica >>What's diverse about the land business in Costa Rica; and how you can securely explore it >> What land alternatives you have in Costa Rica; and how to discover the help you require
