Flat on My Face

Here is an interesting historical timeline taken directly from the latest edition of Lonely Planet: Costa Rica.

11,ooo BC

The first humans occupy Costa Rica and populations quickly flourish due to the rich land and marine resources found along both coastlines.

2500 BC

Costa Rica is home to some of the first pottery-making villages in the Americas, such as those of the Monagrillo culture.

1000 BC

The Huetar power base in the Central Valley is solidified following the construction and habitation of the ancient city of Guayabo, which is continuously inhabited until its mysterious abandonment in 1400.

100 BC

Costa Rica becomes part of an extensive trade network that moves gold and other goods and extends from present-day Mexico down through the Andean empire.

800 AD

Indigenous production granite spheres begins in the Diquis region, though to this day archaeologists and historians remain divided as to the sphere’s intended function and significance.

1502

Christopher Columbus docks his boat at Puerto Limón on the Caribbean coast during his fourth and final voyage to the Americas, ushering in the start of the colonial era in the New World.

1522

Spanish settlement develops in Costa Rica, though it will still be another several decades before the colonists can get a sturdy foothold on the land.

1540

The Kingdom of Guatemala is established by the Spanish and includes much of Central America, including Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas.

1562

Spanish conquistador Juan Vásquez de Coronado arrives in Costa Rica under the title of governor, determined to move the fringe communities of Spanish settlers to the more hospitable Central Valley.

1563

The first permanent Spanish colonial settlement in Costa Rica is established in Cartago by Juan Vásquez de Coronado, who chooses the site based on its rich and fertile volcanic soil.

1737

The future capital of San José is established, sparking a rivalry between neighboring Cartagothat will eventually culminate in a civil war between the two dominant cities.

19th century

Costa Rica’s coffee boom takes off as the country discovers its environmental conditions are ideal for coffee cultivation.  By the end of the century, coffee accounts for 80% of foreign-currency earnings.

1821

Following a unanimous declaration by Mexico on behalf of all Central America, Costa Rica finally gains its independence from Spain after centuries of occupation.

April 1823

The Costa Rican capital officially moves to San José after intense skirmishes with the conservative residents of Cartago, who take issue with the more liberal longings of the power-hungry josefinos.

December 1823

The Monroe Doctrine formally declares the intentions of the USA to be the dominant imperial power in the Western hemisphere despite protests from European powers.

1824

The Nicoya-Guanacaste region votes to secede from Nicaragua and become part of Costa Rica, though the region’s longing for independence from both countries continues to this day.

1843

William Le Lacheur, a Guernsey merchant and ship captain, helps to firmly establish a trade route from Europe to the Pacific coast of Central America via Cape Horn.

1856

Costa Rica puts a damper on the expansionist aims of the war hawks in the USA by defeating William Walker and his invading army at the epic battle of Santa Rosa.

1889

Costa Rica’s first democratic elections are held, a monumental event given the long history of colonial occupation, though unfortunately blacks and women were prohibited by law to vote.

1890

The construction of the railroad between San José and Puerto Limón is finally completed despite years of hardships and countless deaths due to diseases and accifents, such as malaria and yellow fever.

1900

The population of Costa Rica reaches 50,000 as the country begins to develop and prosper due to the increasingly lucrative international coffee and banana traders.

1914

Costa Rica is given an economic boost following the opening of the Panama Canal.  The canal was forged by 75,000 laborers, many thousands of whom died during construction.

1919

Federico Tinoco Granados is ousted as dictator of Costa Rica in one of few episodes of brief violence in an otherwise peaceful political history.

1940

Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia is elected president and proceeds to improve working conditions in Costa Rica by enacting minimum-wage laws as well as an eight-hour day.

1940s

José Figueres Ferrer becomes involved in national politics and opposes the ruling conservatives.  Figueres’ social-democratic policies and criticism of the government andger the Costa Rican elite and President Calderón.

1948

Conservative and liberal forces clash, resulting in a six-week civil war that leaves 2000 Costa Ricans dead, many more wounded and destroys much of the country’s fledgling infrastructure.

1949

Hoping to heal its wounds while simultaneously charting a bold new course for the future, the temporary government enacts a new constitution that abolishes the army, desegregates the country, and grants women and blacks the right to vote.

1963

Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco at the tip of the Nicoya peninsula becomes Costa Rica’s first federally protected conservation area thgouh the efforts of Swedish and Danish conservationists.

1987

President Oscar Arias wins Nobel Peace Prize for his work in Central American peace accords, which bought about greater political freedom throughout the region.

2000

At the start of the new millennium, the population of Costa Rica tops 4 million, though many believe the number is far greater due to burgeoning illegal settlements on the fringes of the capital.

2005

A devastating fire at San José’s Calderon Guardia hospitals kills 17 patients and two nurses, a landmark event that shatters the atmosphere of a country unaccustomed to dealing with tragedy.

2006

Nobel laureate Oscar Arias is elected president for the second time in his political career on a pro-Cafta (US-Central American Free Trade Agreement) platform despite winning by an extremely narrow margin.

2007

A national referendum narrowly passes Cafta.  Opinion is divided as to whether opening up trade with the US will be beneficial for Costa Rica.

Priding itself on a peaceful history and a great respect for its diverse and luscious environment, Costa Rica is a gem squeezed between the Caribbean and the Pacific.  From the bustling capital of San Jose, up to the tops of trees in Monteverde, down to the winding coastlines, you will find a kind, welcoming people who sum it all up with two words-”pura vida.” (Pure life)

Like in most of the Americas, Costa Rica got its start long before the Spaniards arrived.  Many small indigenous tribes were located throughout Costa Rica and the power of larger civilizations like the Mayans and Incans did not reach these Costa Rican tribes.  However, there is evidence of trading and cultural exposure from Mexico through Peru.

Due to the lack of structured civilization, when Colombus landed in 1502 bringing Spanish influence, the colonization of Costa Rica was peaceful relative to other conquests of the Spanish.  In 1563, Cartago became the first official Spanish settlement in Costa Rica, which serves as the capital until it is moved to San Jose in 1737.

In the 1800s Costa Ricans discovered that the land and climate was perfect for cultivating coffee.  By mid-century, the land-owning coffee farmer was the planter and the processing and marketing was the responsibility of the elite coffee barons.  The wealthy coffee barons became a powerful asset in Costa Rican Politics.  At the end of the century,  more than 90% of exports were attributed to coffee and 80% of foreign income.

With an increase in a demand for transport of coffee, a railroad was built at the cost of many lives.  Land was given to Minor Keith, the contractor, on either side of the railroad as incentive to continue.  He planted banana trees to feed the workers at a cheap price and exported the rest to New Orleans.  The venture was very successful, and the banana trade influenced Costa Rican politics.  Unfortunately, the profits were exported along with the bananas.

José Figueres Ferrer, the son of coffee planters and “farmer-philosopher”, entered politics in 1940.  He was an outward critic of the then current President Calderón.  He eventually arrested, accused of being a fascist and sent to Mexico.  He returned with 700 others with the goal of removing the military dictators.  The struggle erupted into a civil war that ended with Figueres demilitarizing Costa Rica.  He built a modern welfare state and granted citizenship and expanded voting rights to the indigenous, women, blacks and Chinese minorities.  To this day, Figueres is credited with Costa Rica’s unarmed democracy.

Supported by the United States, the Contras, who were fighting the communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua, set up camp in northern Costa Rica and an airstrip for flying in weapons was built.  While some Costa Ricans wanted to re-instate the military and fight communism, others marched for peace in pro-test.  Peace won with the election of Oscar Arias.  He removed the Contras from Costa Rica and closed down the airstrip with neutrality and independence as his goal.   Arias went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his work on a Central American plan that included ending the war in Nicaragua.

Arias was elected President again in 2006 by a narrow margin on a pro-Cafta (US-Central American Free Trade Agreement) platform.  Those who voted for him likely agreed that a free trade agreement would promote Costa Rican economics and increase access to US markets and job creation.  The opposition fears that small farmers and industry will suffer and that international trade will become more important than the conservation laws that help protect Costa Rica’s diverse environment.

Source:  Lonely Planet Costa Rica 2009