A SHORT HISTORY OF COSTA RICA

In 1502, on his fourth and last voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus made the first European landfall in the area. Settlement of Costa Rica began in 1522. For nearly three centuries, Spain administered the region as part of the Captaincy General of Guatemalaunder a military governor. The Spanish optimistically called thecountry “Rich Coast.” Finding little gold or other valuable minerals inCosta Rica, however, the Spanish turned to agriculture.

The small landowners’ relative poverty, the lack of a largeindigenous labor force, the population’s ethnic and linguistichomogeneity, and Costa Rica’s isolation from the Spanish colonialcenters in Mexico and the Andes all contributed to the development ofan autonomous and individualistic agrarian society. An egalitariantradition also arose. This tradition survived the widened classdistinctions brought on by the 19th-century introduction of banana andcoffee cultivation and consequent accumulations of local wealth.

Costa Rica joined other Central American provinces in 1821 in ajoint declaration of independence from Spain. Although the newlyindependent provinces formed a Federation, border disputes broke outamong them, adding to the region’s turbulent history and conditions.Costa Rica’s northern Guanacaste Province was annexed from Nicaragua inone such regional dispute. In 1838, long after the Central AmericanFederation ceased to function in practice, Costa Rica formally withdrewand proclaimed itself sovereign.

An era of peaceful democracy in Costa Rica began in 1899 withelections considered the first truly free and honest ones in thecountry’s history. This began a trend that continued until today withonly two lapses: in 1917-19, Federico Tinoco ruled as a dictator, and,in 1948, Jose Figueres led an armed uprising in the wake of a disputedpresidential election.

With more than 2,000 dead, the 44-day civil war resulting from thisuprising was the bloodiest event in 20th-century Costa Rican history,but the victorious junta drafted a constitution guaranteeing freeelections with universal suffrage and the abolition of the military.Figueres became a national hero, winning the first election under thenew constitution in 1953. Since then, Costa Rica has held 15presidential elections, the latest in 2010.

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