Text from course materials prepared by Diana and Milton Lieberman
COSTA RICAN HISTORY AND TRADITIONS

Costa Rica, as you have imagined or have already seen, is a land of great beauty, extraordinary biological riches, and warm, friendly people. But the same could be said for many tropical countries.

Here we want to focus on what is truly unique about Costa Rica, and how it came to be the very special place that 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. We will explore some of those differences, and try to understand how Costa Rica’s early history set the stage for its later pattern of development. We will consider the role of geography, history, and even serendipity in shaping the character of the country and its people.

Geography is always important. Costa Rica is a small country; the guidebooks tell us it is a little smaller than West Virginia, but who knows how big West Virginia is, anyway? We could just as easily say that Costa Rica is a little smaller than Togo, or almost exactly the size of Bhutan. Everyone has a different frame of reference. Perhaps it would be more helpful to say that Costa Rica is around twice the size of Vermont; 1/3 the size of Georgia; 1/8 the size of California; or 1/13 the size of Texas.

Within its borders, it has quite varied topography, with several high mountain ranges. The climates are also varied, with cooler temperatures at higher elevations, and warmer conditions near sea level. Rainfall ranges from 2-8 meters (that would be 80”-320” of rain).The country has extensive coastlines along both the Caribbean and Pacific shores.The combination of topography and high rainfall produces spectacular rivers and waterfalls.

The landscape is geologically young, dynamic, and subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. The soils are comparatively fertile, as a consequence of their volcanic origin and relatively young age.

Early post-European life

Christopher Columbus (or Cristobal Colon, as his name is said in Spanish) reached Costa Rica on his fourth and final voyage in 1502. The indigenous peoples that lived 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. They did not have the sophisticated, advanced cultures that we know of from the same period in Mexico, for instance, such as the Aztec or Maya societies.

Archaeologists do encounter beautiful artifacts and elaborately decorated objects in Costa Rica. The National Museum in San Jose 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
  • they did not have the integrated, complex societies that the Spaniards found elsewhere in Central America.
  • and they did not willingly interact with the Spaniards.

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

The early European colonists had a very meager existence. Although they had come to the New World to find a new life and to make their fortunes, they found no easy wealth to be had. King Philip of Spain wanted nothing to do with the new colony, as it clearly had no major potential as a source of gold.

The 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 Irazu Volcano, the tallest volcano in Costa Rica. There the colonists built a church in honor of the patron saint of Costa Rica, La Virgen de Los Angeles [the virgin of the angels], 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 Irazu Volcano, and each time was rebuilt anew. The decision was finally made to rebuild 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 Angeles 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 Jose, 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.

Coffee wealth and cultural enlightenment

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 that 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 we will talk about them shortly.

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, and this was very difficult indeed.

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 of Africa. The trip from San Jose 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 that Costa Rica enjoyed from coffee revenues brought with it some choices---such as what they were going to spend it on. One of the first decisions was to levy upon the coffee growers a voluntary tax that would be used to build the National Theatre, a move designed to attract visits by musicians, orchestras, singers, and dramatic groups.

The building, which was completed around 1865, was a replica of 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 Jose 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 Jose, 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. 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.

These were progressive, liberal ideals that took firm root in the hearts of Costa Ricans, who because of their own history and values were more than ready to embrace them. And from this generation came Costa Rica’s first teachers, writers, philosophers, lawyers, doctors, and scientists.

One of these was ClodomiroPicado, 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 Jose’s InstitutoClodomiroPicado is open to the public and is a fine place to learn about poisonous reptiles. The institute also milks snakes to produce anti-venoms. 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.

Political and Economic developments

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 fact that Spain was distracted 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 within the Vice Royalty of New Spain.

In 1822, following independence, the Captaincy General of Guatemala (now calling itself 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 (and still does). The effort to unite Central America under a single flag ultimately failed; the Federation ceased to exist in 1839, after a period of unrest, at which time each of its constituent provinces became an independent nation.

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

In 1856, Costa Rica was invaded from the north by William Walker, a U.S. adventurer and soldier of fortune backed by U.S. financial interests including Cornelius Vanderbilt. Walker had gained control of the armed forces of Nicaragua as its president, and dreamed of controlling all of Central America. Volunteers from all parts of Costa Rica came to the defense of the country; this ragtag citizens’ army marched 12 days from San Jose 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 artesans 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 (known as “filibusters”) were driven off. The army was pursued into Nicaragua, where at Rivas a brave young boy from Alajuela, Juan Santamaria, volunteered to set fire to the Walker stronghold, and was killed in the ensuing exchange of gunfire. Today Juan Santamaria is a national hero, and the international airport in San Jose bears his name. Walker died before a firing squad in Honduras in 1860.

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.

Bear in mind that road-building under these conditions of climate, soils, and topography is never easy. Even the modern blacktop roads of Costa Rica today periodically fail and have to be rebuilt or repaired.

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.

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 the 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 black laborers from the islands of the Caribbean. They settled around Limon and other coastal areas, and the black influence is still felt there in terms of music, food, and the ethnic composition of the population. It is likely that the blacks that were 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 black population has remained concentrated along the Caribbean coast in Costa Rica—in fact until 1948, blacks were not permitted to live west of Turrialba, hence were excluded from the urban areas of the Central Valley.