Ancient and early history of Costa Rica

The early history of Costa Rica is shrouded in mystery, because there is little evidence to indicate when exactly the region was first inhabited.

According to popular belief, Costa Rica began with its discovery by Spanish explorers. However, archaeologists have found evidence of occupation in Costa Rica dates back to about 12,000BC.

People began first appearing in this area, occupying areas in the tropical forest. The first inhabitants lived by hunting large animals, like the giant sloth, which are now extinct. It took over centuries of selection of plants and animals for the inhabitants to establish their diet. Over this time period they also perfected the use of specific tools. Slowly the inhabitants began to group together and stay in the same place.

An original form of agriculture was established as these early peoples began to gain knowledge of plant species, to explore their potential uses in food consumption, medicines, fibers and construction materials, and to gradually select species for cultivation. This in turn laid the foundations for a more sedentary existence, with more permanent settlements. This period was called pre-Columbian.

The history of Costa Rica took its most dramatic turn in the autumn of 1502 when Christopher Columbus, sailed his final voyage to the Americas. The Spanish immediately set to colonizing the land, but the Costa Ricans fought heroically, and it took over 40 years before they were forced to finally submit to slavery. Most settlers preferred life elsewhere in the new world, shunning Costa Rica for their colonies to the north, where the natives were considerably more subservient.

Other than the establishment of the city of San Jose in 1737, Costa Rica's history remained relatively quiet - the land was irrelevant to the Spanish, who made only cursory attempts to brave the region’s terrain to hunt for crops and minerals, and the Costa Ricans had been decimated by war and disease. They were merely trying to survive. The only crop that seemed worth anything to the Spanish was coffee, a burgeoning trade that meant shipping more and more back home to Europe to meet with rising demand. Costa Rica's population grew slowly on its own with little outside influence. Over time three new cities were founded in the Central Valley: Cubujuquí (Heredia) in 1706, Villanueva de la Boca del Monte (San José) in 1737, and Villa Hermosa (Alajuela) in 1782.

In 1821 the Americas wriggled free of Spain's imperial grip and Mexico declared its independance. The Central American colonies then 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. Now, like an independent state, Costa Rica had to decide which place would be the seat of power. After some fighting and struggle (the Battle of Ochomongo and the War of the Liga), San Jose became the center of power, the axis of financial activity of the country. The annexation of the Nicoya Peninsula in 1824 consolidated the sovereignity of Costa Rica which successfully avoided the military confrontations and civil wars of the Federal Republic of Central America (1823).

After independence, Costa Rica had fewer than 70,000 inhabitants. In the following year, it was absorbed into the short-lived Mexican Empire proclaimed by Agustín de Iturbide. Following the collapse of Iturbide's rule, Costa Rica became a member of the United Provinces of Central America in 1823. At the same time, the provincial capital of Costa Rica became San José. The United Provinces fell apart in 1838, and in 1848, the Republic of Costa Rica was established. The new state was threatened by William Walker, a US military adventurer who invaded Central America in 1855, but his troops were repelled in 1857, and in 1860 Walker was captured and executed. In 1871, General Tomás Guardia, a dictator, introduced the constitution that, though frequently modified, remained Costa Rica's basic law until 1949.

Meanwhile, the success of coffee cultivation, introduced in the early 1800s, had encouraged rapid population growth, progress in education, and the beginnings of modern economic development, through the construction of a coast-to-coast railroad from Limón on the Caribbean through San José to the Pacific. Banana cultivation was started in 1871, and the United Fruit Co. (now United Brands) made Costa Rica a major producer of bananas.