HISTORY & CULTURE Costa Rica is a land of great beauty, extraordinary biological riches, and warm, friendly people. But the same could be said for many tropical countries.

This narrative focuses on what is truly unique about Costa Rica, and how it came to be the very special place it is. Costa Rica is remarkably different from its neighbors in Central America, and has been fortunate in escaping many of the problems that affect the region as a whole.

Christopher Columbus (or Cristobal Colón, as his name is said in Spanish) reached Costa Rica on his fourth and final voyage in 1502. The natives Columbus encountered on the beach were wearing gold jewelry, leading Columbus to the incorrect assumption that there were rich gold mines nearby, and hence the name, Costa Rica, or Rich Coast. The indigenous peoples in Costa Rica at the time belonged to nine tribes—the Chorotega (which lived in the San Luis/ Monteverde area), the Boruca, the Brunca, the Bribri, the Huetar, and a few others. These groups formed loose bands, and subsisted by hunting, gathering, and simple agriculture, growing beans, squash, corn, cotton, and various tubers. Though they were contemporary, they did not have the sophisticated level of civilization of the Aztec in México or the Inca of Perú.

Archaeologists do encounter beautiful artifacts and elaborately decorated objects in Costa Rica. The National Museum and the Gold Museum in San José is filled with these kinds of items; they are found quite frequently by farmers throughout the Costa Rican countryside.

Most importantly: • the local indigenous people were not in high density, and a great many of them were killed in early skirmishes with the colonists. Most of the remainder succumbed to European diseases brought by the Spaniards... • they did not have the integrated, complex civilizations which the Spaniards found elsewhere in Central America¼. • and they did not willingly interact with the Spaniards.

Thus immediately, a major difference is evident between Costa Rica’s early colonial period and that of the rest of Central America: there was no possibility of dominating and enslaving Indians as a work force, because there were few Indians left alive.

King Philip of Spain wanted nothing to do with the new colony, as it clearly had no major potential as a source of gold. Lacking natural resources and a labor force, noble Europeans stayed away from Costa Rica. Instead, Costa Rica was settled by commoners willing to work their own land.

The Spanish colonists had to fend for themselves, feed themselves, and learn how to survive on their own. Although there was plenty of land available to plant, each family held only as much land as it could till; they had no labor (slave or otherwise) but themselves. The colony was essentially cut off from Europe as it had nothing to export. Trading with the outside was difficult in any case, as there were constant pirate raids, and the British navy blockaded Caribbean ports when it was at war with Spain. The culture that was being shaped during these early days had certain clear features; it • placed great value on self-reliance and independence • showed respect for drive, entrepreneurship, and resourcefulness • was egalitarian in the extreme • respected the dignity of labor • and was close to the land.

Few missionaries were sent, as Costa Rica did not have large numbers of indigenous people to be converted to Catholicism. The role of the Catholic church in Costa Rica’s early history was thus rather different than that elsewhere in Central America.

And because there was no unruly or unwilling labor force to control, Costa Rica never had the type of large military presence that was seen in other parts of Central America.

The first capital was established in the town of Cartago, at the eastern end of the Central Valley, just under the shadow of the Irazú Volcano, the tallest volcano in Costa Rica. There the colonists built a church in honor of the patroness of Costa Rica, la Virgen de los Ángeles, whose image was found nearby miraculously carved in stone.

The basilica, built of stone, was destroyed several times by earthquakes related to activity of the Irazú Volcano, and each time was rebuilt anew. The decision was finally made to rebuilt the basilica in wood and this building still stands, having now withstood a number of major eruptions and earthquakes. The Basilica de la Virgen de los Ángeles is one of Costa Rica’s most significant architectural and cultural treasures.

And so the colony survived, always poor in material wealth, largely in isolation from the rest of Central America and Europe, but developing its own unique character and strengths. The population settled largely in the central valley or Meseta Central, with centers developing in San José, Alajuela, Heredia, and Grecia. The population density remained low, and most people lived on small family farms. There was land for everyone, and no one held huge amounts of property.

With virtually no contact with indigenous people, the way of life of the early Costa Ricans was essentially European. Nowhere does one see the native American influence---the spicy seasonings, the brilliant textiles, the linguistic influence, or the ceramics, carvings, metal- working, and other art forms--which is so evident in the mainstream cultures of other Latin American countries today.

Things remained largely unchanged until the early 1800’s when one key event altered dramatically Costa Rica’s prospects and began to shape a different future for the country. The event was the introduction of coffee. Originally from Africa, coffee thrives best with a cool, tropical climate with relatively fertile soils, exactly as is found with the mid-elevation volcanic soils of Costa Rica. Coffee proved to be ideally suited to conditions in Costa Rica.

Coffee at that time was hugely popular in Europe, creating a demand which was for all practical purposes insatiable. In a government move designed to encourage planting of coffee, land was granted to anyone who would agree to grow coffee. For the first time, Costa Rica had a valuable product that it could produce for export; a ready market; and the opportunity to acquire wealth.

The practice of homesteading land to acquire title is still legal, and is still practiced; Costa Rica’s land laws are explicitly designed to put land in the hands of as many people as possible, and to prevent huge holdings that preclude others from owning land. Whether you refer to this process as “settling”, “homesteading”, or “squatting” depends on your stake in the issue; but Costa Rica law strongly defends the rights of those who show the highest need for the land.

The capital outlay necessary to start growing and harvesting coffee, processing the beans, transporting them to the port, marketing and shipping the beans was handled by forming coffee cooperatives--small family farms joined forces with one another, sharing the major costs, and then sharing the profits proportionally at the end of the season.

Some families in Costa Rica established substantial fortunes in the coffee industry at this time, and many of these families are still in the forefront of Costa Rican society, politics, and wealth. Some common brands of coffee still bear the names of the important coffee families, such as Volio coffee.

This pattern of land tenure remains predominant today in Costa Rica: small family farms united by cooperatives, rather than enormous agribusiness enterprises, are used for production of most crops; the exceptions---bananas and palm oil to name two---are interesting in their own right, and are discussed below.

Transportation remained a problem---there was still no road from the central valley to the Caribbean. The unstable, mountainous terrain, high rainfall, dense tropical forest crisscrossed by river gorges, and steep cliffs, made it impossible to make a road large enough for a wheeled vehicle. The only traffic to the Caribbean was on foot and by horseback.

Shipping of coffee to Europe was therefore done from the Pacific port of Puntarenas, from where the ships sailed the long way around, undertaking the very dangerous and stormy voyage around the Horn. The trip from San José to Esparza (one of the important early way-stations) and then on to Puntarenas took a week by oxcart; the trip takes a couple of hours at most today.

The new-found wealth which Costa Rica was enjoying from coffee revenues brought with it new opportunities. One of the first decisions was to levy upon the coffee growers a voluntary tax which would be used to build the National Theater, a move designed to attract visits by musicians, orchestras, singers, and dramatic groups.

The building, which was completed around 1865, was modeled after the Paris Opera House, and was built of materials imported from all over Europe---marble from Italy, stone, wood, and metals, as needed---and using craftsmen, artisans, and builders brought from Europe for the purpose. The results were as hoped for. San José became a cultural center, and the world’s best performers began to include Costa Rica on their Western Hemisphere tours. This edifice is well worth visiting when you are in San José, and if there is a performance scheduled, so much the better---tickets are very cheap, making the performances available to everyone.

A second decision for the expenditure of coffee revenues was to send the country’s younger generation away to be educated in the world’s best universities in Europe, primarily France. This they did, and the timing was propitious: Europe at this time was undergoing a social and intellectual upheaval, with such revolutionary notions as individual freedoms, civil liberties, the responsibility of the state to its citizens, social welfare, labor rights, universal education, democratic ideals, and egalitarianism.

Thus, Costa Rica got to participate in the progressive, liberal ideals that took firm root in Latin America, fueling the independence movement from Spain. And from this generation came Costa Rica’s first teachers, writers, philosophers, lawyers, doctors, and scientists.

One of these was Clodomiro Picado, a Costa Rican biologist whose work on the natural history and systematics of tropical creatures was vast, and who is best remembered for his pioneering work on snake venom. San José’s Instituto Clodomiro Picado is open to the public and is a fine place to learn about poisonous reptiles. The institute also milks snakes to produce antivenoms. Important poisonous snakes in Costa Rica are the fer-de-lance, bushmaster, and eyelash viper (all in the rattlesnake family) and the coral snake.

Costa Rica’s phenomenal biological riches attracted the attention of others, and a strong tradition of Costa Rican naturalists and biologists was started.

Meanwhile, other events had been taking place---Costa Rica and the rest of Central America declared their independence from Spain on September 15, 1821, taking advantage of the distraction provided by Napoleon’s invasion of Spain. Costa Rica, along with Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua were originally provinces within the Captaincy General of Guatemala, itself nominally within the Vice Royalty of New Spain. Upon independence, the 6 provinces became a republic known as the Central American Federation.

In 1822, following independence, the Central American Federation was annexed by the Mexican Empire. The Federation broke away from Mexico 18 months later, but lost Chiapas in the process, which remained a part of Mexico. The effort to unite Central America under a single flag ultimately failed, and the Federation ceased to exist in 1839 after a period of unrest. Each of its constituent provinces became an independent nation.

The capital city of Costa Rica was moved from Cartago to San José, after a short period of civil strife in which Alajuela, Heredia, and San José all vied for the honor. The principal battleground was at a place called Ochomogo, located between Cartago and San José.

A pivotal point in Central American history came from the invasion of Nicaragua, and later Costa Rica, by William Walker, and event that unified Central America. Volunteers came from all parts of Latin America to help liberate Nicaragua from the American invaders.

William Walker was a U.S. “adventurer” and soldier of fortune. In the mid-nineteenth century, adventurers known as filibusters participated in military actions aimed at obtaining control of Latin American nations with the intent of annexing them to the United States-an expression of Manifest Destiny, the idea that the United States was destined to control the continent. Walker moved to California in 1850 and led an armed invasion of Baja California, Mexico three years later. He proclaimed himself the president of the new independent republic of Sonora and Baja California after his successful invasion.

In 1854, the Liberal party in Nicaragua was fighting the Conservative party for power and losing. In desperation, the Liberals sought out Walker's military assistance. So, in 1855, Walker and 58 mercenaries captured the capital city of Granada. He double-crossed the Liberals, and made himself president of Nicaragua in 1856, and was quickly recognized by the United States government as such. He proceeded to declare English as the official language and attempted to become a United States slave-state.

Walker's ambitious plan was to unite all of Central America into one country under his rule, and invaded Costa Rica in 1856. Volunteers from all parts of Costa Rica came to the defense of the country; this ragtag citizens’ army marched 12 days from San José to the northern border, bearing knives, machetes and any kind of firearms they could find, and included around 9,000 people, from campesino farmers and artisans to teachers, students, lawyers, and businessmen. In a battle that lasted only minutes at the Casona in what is now Santa Rosa National Park, the well-armed mercenary force were driven off. The army was pursued into Nicaragua, where at the Battle of Rivas, a young boy from Alajuela, Juan Santamaría, volunteered to set fire to the Walker stronghold, and was killed in the ensuing exchange of gunfire. Today Juan Santamaría is a national hero, and the international airport in San José bears his name.

Eventually, Walker's supporters appropriated a transit company owned by the American industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt, who retaliated by financing the Conservative forces against Walker. Walker was overthrown in a battle in 1857, and despite his attempts to recapture Nicaragua he never again regained control. The British captured Walker in Honduras in 1860 during another takeover attempt, and he was promptly executed by the Honduran authorities (library.thinkquest.org/ 17749/walker.html; www.calnative.com/n_walk.htm).

By the end of the war, Costa Rica managed to annex the Nicaraguan department of Guanascate in the process. In exchange, the San Juan River and navigation rates were ceded to Nicaragua.

As an epilogue, many years later, as the Contras fought the Sandinistas, Ronald Reagan found a man named William Walker, and appointed him US Ambassador to Nicaragua.

But by the late 1800’s, there still had been no solution to the terrible problem of transportation between the Central Valley and the Caribbean. A deal was struck between Costa Rica and the British government, in which Britain agreed to put in a road. Most of the funds in Costa Rica’s national coffers were spent, and they failed. In the 1900’s, after the British had failed to build a road to the Caribbean coast, a U.S. engineer named Minor Keith appeared, offering to solve the problem of access to the coast. Costa Rica declined the offer as it had no more money to devote to the project. Keith suggested that they pay him in land instead.

Minor Keith built a railroad, not a road, and was able to span the impassable gorges and raging rivers with bridges. He took as payment a wide belt of land surrounding the railway right-of- way, and planted it in bananas. This was the start of United Fruit Company, the first of the multinational fruit producers to work in Costa Rica.

Having no labor force to turn to the purpose—other Costa Ricans being more interested in working their own farms—he imported laborers of African descent from the islands of the Caribbean. They settled around Limón and other coastal areas, and their influence is still felt there in terms of music, food, and the ethnic composition of the population. It is likely that they brought to work in the railroad and the banana plantations were wooed with promises of high wages that they could retire on in their home islands; needless to say, the wages were less than hoped for, and few ever returned home. The cultural influence of the African population has remained concentrated along the Caribbean coast in Costa Rica—in fact until 1948, they were not permitted to live west of Turrialba, hence were excluded from the urban areas of the Central Valley.

Thus United Fruit was the first instance of large corporate agriculture in Costa Rica. In the 1950’s, the labor force working for United Fruit, or “Mamita Yunai” (“Mommy United”) as the company was irreverently called, went on strike, demanding better wages, working conditions, and benefits. The company broke the strike by firing the workers, converting the fields from bananas to African oil palm, a crop that requires almost no labor force at all. Now much of the area in the Central Pacific part of Costa Rica, around Parrita and Quepos, is planted in oil palm. The oil is used in making soap as well as cooking oil.

At the time Costa Rica was first visited by Columbus, around 95% of the country was covered in forest, or so it was originally thought. More recent studies looking at pollen in sediment suggest Costa Rica has heavily deforested when Columbus arrived, and the forest regenerated when the Spaniards killed the natives off. The most rapid and most extensive loss of forest has happened during the past 30-40 years, with an increase in population size and a tendency to convert forest to pastures to grow beef. More recent studies looking at pollen in sediment suggest some parts of Costa Rica was heavily deforested when Columbus arrived, and the forest regenerated when the Spaniards killed the natives off.

At the same time that modern deforestation was taking place, the conservation movement was just beginning. Costa Rica’s world-renowned system of national parks and protected areas was started in 1963, with the establishment of Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve. This country now protects some 25% of its land area as parks, reserves, and refuges, making Costa Rica a world leader in the area of conservation. Sports are immensely popular. Every town and village has a soccer (“fútbol”) field, where organized competitions with other teams or just pick-up scrimmages (“mejengas”) take place. Cycling, baseball, and basketball are also popular.

Costa Rica produces almost all of its own food. Supplementary amounts of corn, beans and rice are imported in most years, and wheat is imported from temperate countries. In general, though, Costa Ricans eat fresh food year-round which is consumed near where it is produced.

The current top sources of foreign exchange include computer chips (Intel operates a large factory in the San José area), tourism, agriculture (led by coffee and banana), and textiles (clothing sold by Gap, Jordache, and many others is assembled in Costa Rica).

Around 45% of the population lives in rural areas, and they still retain rural manners---they are unfailingly polite; they take time to talk and listen to one another; they are non-violent and diplomatic in all they do; and they take every opportunity to make one feel welcome. As in the rest of Latin America, extended families are still important. At a typical rural dance, one might find three to four generations all having fun together, dancing to the same music, and talking to one another.

Costa Ricans are fascinated by nature, and take pride in their leadership role in conservation. The spectacular biological diversity of the country of course has attracted the attention of scientists and students from all over the world.

Many other things are uniquely Costa Rican. The Institute of Biodiversity has as its goal the collection, naming, and cataloging of every form of life in the country---an endeavor never attempted anywhere before.

The development of ecotourism and educational tourism as a means to help pay for the costs of conservation has been remarkable, and some of the most innovative, and highly-regarded efforts of this kind were started in Costa Rica. New paradigms of conservation, designed to include, not exclude, human beings, have taken hold here, along with novel ways to place conservation and economics on the same path.

As the popularity of Costa Rica as a travel destination has increased, so has tourism of the old- fashioned type. One of the current challenges faced by Costa Rica is the balancing the demands of tourists alongside its traditional efforts in ecotourism and conservation.

With no military spending to support, and a large middle-class, Costa Rica has been able to place emphasis on the arts. There is an outstanding youth symphony orchestra, world-class dance and theater groups, and a thriving drama scene. Costa Rica has become a magnet in Central America for scientific research and education, and has welcomed the presence and participation of tropical biologists from all over the world.

In cuisine as well as other areas, Costa Rican has borrowed from others but still developed its own traditions---for example, Costa-Rican-style tamales (an indigenous dish of steamed corn meal, meat and vegetables) are made with all the local ingredients but omitting the hot chiles that must have been so foreign to the palate of the European colonists.

Conversely, influences from Europe have been adapted to suit a Costa Rican sense of values. Bull fighting, a tradition from Spain, is enormously popular, but----it is illegal to kill the bull! There is excellent one-on-one cape play between the bull and the bullfighter--but no goring of the bull from horseback, nor stabbing of the bull with colorful flagged banderillas, nor killing of the bull by the matador. At the end of the event, the bull is roped from horseback with fancy lasso work and led from the arena. And to make the tradition even more typically Costa Rican----the bullfight is completely democratic in that everyone can---and does---take part! Spectators may drop from the stands into the arena and see how close to the bull they can get.

As elsewhere in Latin America, immigrants from all over the world have arrived over the past century and a half. Scan the summaries in the phone book– it contains surnames from the world over.

Today, Costa Rica enjoys prosperity and quality health care far beyond that of its neighbors. Consequently, Costa Rica has resisted all efforts for regional integration, so as to protect its standard of living and prevent a wave of immigrants from its impoverished neighbors. Already, some estimates are that as many a 1 million people in Costa Rica are Nicaraguan immigrants, who are viewed as taking advantage of Costa Rica’s generous social welfare, while contributing little to its coffers. The net result is diplomatic tension between Costa Rica and its neighbors.

This brief survey of early Costa Rican history should shed some light on current differences between Costa Rican and its neighbors in Central America---and in particular how Costa Rica came to be spared the ravages of civil war, inequitable distribution of wealth and opportunity, and repressive governments. It also explains why the food, the artistic traditions, and material culture of Costa Ricans show their Spanish origin, and are generally devoid of the native American influence which characterize the cultures of other parts of the region.

AS A GUEST OF THIS SMALL BUT ENCHANTING COUNTRY, YOU WILL BE WARMLY WELCOMED, MEET NEW FRIENDS, AND SHARE FULLY IN THE ENJOYMENT OF LIFE COSTA RICAN STYLE. FOR YOUR PART AS A VISITOR, YOU CAN BEST SHOW YOUR RESPECT FOR COSTA RICANS AND THEIR CULTURE BY LEARNING ALL YOU CAN ABOUT CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS, VALUES, AND MANNERS, AND PUTTING THAT UNDERSTANDING INTO PRACTICE---AND THE OUTCOME WILL WITHOUT A DOUBT BE THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME.