Editing Costa Rica (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Costa Rica}}
[[File:Stone spheres of Costa Rica. Museo Nacional.jpg|thumb|[[Stone spheres of Costa Rica|Stone spheres]] created by the [[Diquis]] culture at the [[Museo Nacional de Costa Rica|National Museum of Costa Rica]]. [[Stone spheres of Costa Rica|The sphere]] is the icon of the country's cultural identity.]]

=== Pre-Columbian period ===
{{Main|Pre-Columbian history of Costa Rica}}
Historians have classified the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous people]] of Costa Rica as belonging to the [[Intermediate Area]], where the peripheries of the [[Mesoamerican]] and [[Andean]] native cultures overlapped. More recently, [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] Costa Rica has also been described as part of the [[Isthmo-Colombian Area]].

Stone tools, the oldest evidence of human occupation in Costa Rica, are associated with the arrival of various groups of [[hunter-gatherer]]s about 10,000 to 7,000 years [[Before Common Era|BCE]] in the [[Turrialba (district)|Turrialba Valley]]. The presence of [[Clovis culture]] type spearheads and arrows from [[South America]] opens the possibility that, in this area, two different cultures coexisted.<ref name=precolumbian1>{{cite book |last1=Botey Sobrado |first1=Ana María |title=Costa Rica: estado, economía, sociedad y cultura desde las sociedades autóctonas hasta 1914 |date=2002 |publisher=Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica |edition=2a |language=es |pages=30–31 |oclc=51817062}}</ref>

Agriculture became evident in the populations that lived in Costa Rica about 5,000 years ago. They mainly grew [[tubers]] and roots. For the first and second millennia BCE there were already settled farming communities. These were small and scattered, although the timing of the transition from [[hunter-gatherer|hunting]] and gathering to agriculture as the main livelihood in the territory is still unknown.<ref name=precolumbian2>{{harvnb|Botey Sobrado|2002| p=32|sp=yes}}</ref>

The earliest use of [[pottery]] appears around 2,000 to 3,000 BCE. Shards of pots, cylindrical vases, platters, gourds, and other vases decorated with grooves, prints, and some modeled after animals have been found.<ref name=precolumban3>{{harvnb|Botey Sobrado|2002| pp=32–33|sp=sí}}</ref>

The influence of Indigenous peoples on modern Costa Rican culture has been relatively small compared to other nations since the country lacked a strong native civilization to begin with.{{clarify|date=October 2024}}{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} Most of the native population was absorbed into the Spanish-speaking [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|colonial society]] through inter-marriage,{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} except for some small remnants, the most significant of which are the [[Bribri people|Bribri]] and [[Boruca people|Boruca]] tribes who still inhabit the mountains of the [[Cordillera de Talamanca]], in the southeastern part of Costa Rica, near the frontier with [[Panama]].

=== Spanish colonization ===
The name {{lang|es|la costa rica}}, meaning "rich coast" in the Spanish language, was in some accounts first applied by [[Christopher Columbus]], who sailed to the eastern shores of Costa Rica during his final voyage in 1502,<ref name="embassy">{{cite web | title=About Costa Rica | work=Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington DC | url=http://www.costarica-embassy.org/index.php?q=node/19 | access-date=18 September 2012 | archive-date=26 July 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120726030431/http://costarica-embassy.org/index.php?q=node/19 | url-status=live }}</ref> and reported vast quantities of gold jewelry worn by natives.<ref name="lp">{{cite web | title=History of Costa Rica | work=Lonely Planet | url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/costa-rica/history | access-date=18 September 2012 | archive-date=21 January 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121150312/http://www.lonelyplanet.com/costa-rica/history | url-status=dead }}</ref> The name may also have come from conquistador [[Gil González Dávila]], who landed on the west coast in 1522, encountered natives, and obtained some of their gold, sometimes by violent theft and sometimes as gifts from local leaders.<ref>{{cite book | author=Rojas, Eugenia Ibarra | title=Fronteras etnicas en la conquista de Nicaragua y Nicoya: entre la solidaridad y el conflicto 800 d.C.-1544. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAcx6DtZba4C&dq=gil+gonzalez+davila+costa+rica&pg=PA89 | publisher=Universidad de Costa Rica. | year=2001 | isbn=9789977676852 | access-date=19 March 2023 | archive-date=4 April 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404075152/https://books.google.com/books?id=IAcx6DtZba4C&dq=gil+gonzalez+davila+costa+rica&pg=PA89 | url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Iglesia Inmaculada Concepcion Ujarras.jpg|thumb|The {{lang|es|[[Ujarrás]]|italic=no}} historical site in the Orosí Valley, [[Cartago province]]. The church was built between 1686 and 1693.]]
During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the [[Captaincy General of Guatemala]], nominally part of the [[New Spain|Viceroyalty of New Spain]]. The captaincy general was a largely autonomous entity within the [[Spanish Empire]]. Costa Rica's distance from the capital of the captaincy in [[Guatemala]], its legal prohibition under [[mercantilism|mercantilist]] Spanish law from trade with its southern neighbor Panama, then part of the [[Viceroyalty of New Granada]] (i.e. [[Colombia]]), and lack of resources such as gold and silver, made Costa Rica into a poor, isolated, and sparsely-inhabited region within the Spanish Empire.<ref>{{cite book | title= Claudia Quirós. La Era de la Encomienda. Historia de Costa Rica. Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica. 1990.}}</ref> Costa Rica was described as "the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America" by a Spanish governor in 1719.<ref><!--?REPEAT1?-->{{cite book |author=Shafer, D. Michael |title=Winners and losers: how sectors shape the developmental prospects of states |url=https://archive.org/details/winnerslosershow00shaf |url-access=registration |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y. |year=1994|isbn=978-0-8014-8188-8}}</ref>

=== Independence ===
{{See also|Free State of Costa Rica|First Costa Rican Republic}}
Like the rest of [[Central America]], Costa Rica never fought for independence from Spain. On 15 September 1821, after the final Spanish defeat in the [[Mexican War of Independence]] (1810–1821), the authorities in Guatemala declared the independence of all of Central America. That date is still celebrated as Independence Day in Costa Rica<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mep.go.cr/calendario/aniversario-independencia-nacional |title=Aniversario de la Independencia Nacional |website=Ministerio de Educación Pública |language=es |access-date=13 September 2018 |archive-date=14 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914022706/https://www.mep.go.cr/calendario/aniversario-independencia-nacional |url-status=live }}</ref> even though, technically, under the [[Spanish Constitution of 1812]] that had been readopted in 1820, [[Nicaragua]] and Costa Rica had become an autonomous province with its capital in [[León, Nicaragua|León]].{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

On March 3, 1824, the government of the State of Costa Rica officially proposed to the municipality of Nicoya its voluntary incorporation into the country, through a document in which it invited it "if it was convenient to join its Province without going against its will." On July 4, an open town hall was convened in Nicoya to discuss the matter, but attendees declined the invitation under the argument "that this Party... cannot be dissident."{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

On July 25, 1824, a second [[plebiscite]] was called in the city of Nicoya. After deliberation, the incorporation into Costa Rica was decided in an open town hall meeting, preparing a record in which the main reasons for it were noted, pointing out the advantages in terms of trade, the desire to participate in the advances that are palpable in Costa Rica, the economic, administrative and public service benefits, the creation of schools, security and quiet, referring to the state of war that Nicaragua was experiencing at that time and the fear that it would spread to the Partido populations, in addition to point out the poverty in which its towns find themselves and the geography of the territory as justifications for the union. Three days later, another similar plebiscite was held in [[Santa Cruz (canton), Costa Rica|Santa Cruz]], with the same result. The election was by majority vote, with 77% of the Party's population in favor of incorporation, and 23% against it. The town of Guanacaste was the only one that declined annexation, due to the ties its residents had with the city of [[Rivas, Nicaragua]].{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Upon independence, Costa Rican authorities faced the issue of officially deciding the future of the country. Two bands formed: the Imperialists, defended by [[Cartago, Costa Rica|Cartago]] and [[Heredia Province|Heredia cities]], which were in favor of [[Central America under Mexican rule|joining]] the [[First Mexican Empire|Mexican Empire]], and the Republicans, represented by the cities of [[San José, Costa Rica|San José]] and [[Alajuela]] who defended full independence. Because of the lack of agreement on these two possible outcomes, the first civil war in Costa Rica occurred. The [[Battle of Ochomogo]] took place on the Hill of [[Ochomogo]], located in the [[Costa Rican Central Valley|Central Valley]] in 1823. The conflict was won by the Republicans and, as a consequence, the city of [[Cartago, Costa Rica|Cartago]] lost its status as the capital, which moved to [[San José, Costa Rica|San José]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Cartilla Histórica de Costa Rica|publisher = EUNED|year = 2005|isbn = 9789968313759}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title = Apuntes para la historia de la ciudad de Alajuela|last = Alarmvogel|publisher = Impr. Nacional|year = 1966|location = San José, Costa Rica|oclc = 14462048}}</ref><ref>Obregón Loría, Rafael. "Hechos Militares y Políticos de Nuestra Historia Patria". Museo Histórico Cultural Juan Santamaría, Costa Rica, 1981.</ref>
[[File:First postal stamp CR 4 Reales 1863.jpg|thumb|upright|1849 [[Coat of arms of Costa Rica|national coat of arms]] was featured in the first postal stamp issued in 1862.]]

In 1838, long after the [[Federal Republic of Central America]] ceased to function in practice, Costa Rica formally withdrew and proclaimed itself sovereign. The considerable distance and poor communication routes between [[Guatemala City]] and the Central Plateau, where most of the Costa Rican population lived then and still lives now, meant the local population had little allegiance to the federal government in Guatemala. Since colonial times, Costa Rica has been reluctant to become economically tied with the rest of Central America. Even today, despite most of its neighbors'{{Efn|Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama}} efforts to increase regional integration,<ref>{{cite web |title=Central America |url=http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/camerica/caeco.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802142535/http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/camerica/caeco.html |archive-date=2 August 2017 |access-date=12 August 2017 |website=www.cotf.edu}}</ref> Costa Rica has remained more independent.

Until 1849, when it became part of [[Panama]], [[Chiriquí province|Chiriquí]] was part of Costa Rica. Costa Rican pride was assuaged for the loss of this eastern (or southern) territory with the acquisition of [[Guanacaste Province|Guanacaste]], in the north.

=== Economic growth in the 19th century ===
{{See also|Liberal State}}
[[Coffee]] was first planted in Costa Rica in 1808,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.co.cr/costa-ricas-coffee-tradition/52303/|title=Costa Rica's Coffee Tradition – Costa Rica Star News|date=21 October 2016|access-date=12 August 2017|archive-date=13 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813103455/http://news.co.cr/costa-ricas-coffee-tradition/52303/|url-status=live}}</ref> and by the 1820s, it surpassed [[tobacco]], [[sugar]], and [[cacao bean|cacao]] as a primary [[export]]. Coffee production remained Costa Rica's principal source of wealth well into the 20th century, creating a wealthy class of growers, the so-called Coffee Barons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.travelcostarica.nu/coffee#history|title=Coffee of Costa Rica – el café|website=www.travelcostarica.nu|access-date=12 August 2017|archive-date=13 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813055045/http://www.travelcostarica.nu/coffee#history|url-status=dead}}</ref> The revenue helped to modernize the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.embassycrsg.com/history-of-coffee-in-costa-rica.html|title=History of Coffee in Costa Rica|website=Embajada de Costa Rica en Singapur|access-date=12 August 2017|archive-date=13 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813103822/http://www.embassycrsg.com/history-of-coffee-in-costa-rica.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="cafeimports.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.cafeimports.com/origin_costarica|title=Cafe Imports – Costa Rica|first=Cafe|last=Imports|website=www.cafeimports.com|access-date=4 August 2017|archive-date=5 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805015137/http://www.cafeimports.com/origin_costarica|url-status=live}}</ref>

Most of the coffee exported was grown around the main centers of population in the Central Plateau and then transported by [[Bullock cart|oxcart]] to the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] port of [[Puntarenas]] after the main road was built in 1846.<ref name="cafeimports.com"/> By the mid-1850s the main market for coffee was Britain.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.anywhere.com/costa-rica/travel-guide/coffee|title=Costa Rica Coffee – Past & Present Coffee Cultivations|website=www.anywhere.com|access-date=12 August 2017|archive-date=13 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813055649/https://www.anywhere.com/costa-rica/travel-guide/coffee|url-status=live}}</ref> It soon became a high priority to develop an effective transportation route from the Central Plateau to the Atlantic Ocean. For this purpose, in the 1870s, the Costa Rican government contracted with U.S. businessman [[Minor C. Keith]] to build a railroad from San José to the [[Western Caribbean Zone|Caribbean]] port of [[Limón]]. Despite enormous difficulties with construction, disease, and financing, the railroad was completed in 1890.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l9QOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA310|title=Coffee Production and Processing on a Large Costa Rican Finca|publisher=Bib. Orton IICA / CATIE|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Most Afro-Costa Ricans descend from [[Jamaica]]n immigrants who worked in the construction of that railway and now make up about 3% of Costa Rica's population.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} U.S. convicts, Italians, and Chinese immigrants also participated in the construction project. In exchange for completing the railroad, the Costa Rican government granted Keith large tracts of land and a lease on the train route, which he used to produce [[banana]]s and export them to the United States. As a result, bananas came to rival coffee as the principal Costa Rican export, while foreign-owned corporations (including the [[United Fruit Company]] later) began to hold a major role in the national economy and eventually became a symbol of the exploitative export economy.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUM8y5L1h8kC&q=costa+rica+history+united+fruit+company%27&pg=PA80|title=The History of Costa Rica|first=Monica A.|last=Rankin|date=29 December 2017|publisher=ABC-CLIO|via=Google Books|isbn=9780313379444}}</ref> The major labor dispute between the peasants and the United Fruit Company (The Great Banana Strike) was a major event in the country's history and was an important step that would eventually lead to the formation of effective [[trade unions in Costa Rica]], as the company was required to sign a collective agreement with its workers in 1938.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YujmDAAAQBAJ&q=Great+Banana+strike+1934&pg=PT135|title=Bananas and Business: The United Fruit Company in Colombia, 1899–2000|first=Marcelo|last=Bucheli|date=1 February 2005|publisher=NYU Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780814769874|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=3 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203170206/https://books.google.com/books?id=YujmDAAAQBAJ&q=Great+Banana+strike+1934&pg=PT135#v=snippet&q=Great%20Banana%20strike%201934&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref><!--?REPEAT2?-->{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/winnerslosershow00shaf|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/winnerslosershow00shaf/page/213 213]|title=Winners and Losers: How Sectors Shape the Developmental Prospects of States|first=D. Michael|last=Shafer|date=29 December 1994|publisher=Cornell University Press|via=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0801481888}}</ref>

==== 20th century ====
{{See also|Reform State}}
Historically, Costa Rica has generally enjoyed greater peace and more consistent political stability than many of its fellow Latin American nations. Since the late 19th century, however, Costa Rica has experienced two significant periods of violence. In 1917–1919, General [[Federico Tinoco Granados]] ruled as a military dictator until he was overthrown and forced into exile. The unpopularity of [[Dictatorship of the Tinoco Brothers|Tinoco's regime]] led, after he was overthrown, to a considerable decline in the size, wealth, and political influence of the Costa Rican military. In 1948, [[José Figueres Ferrer]] led an [[Costa Rican Civil War|armed uprising]] in the wake of a disputed presidential election between [[Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia]] (who had been president between 1940 and 1944) and [[Otilio Ulate Blanco]].<ref>See [https://archive.today/20120717062137/http://reachian.googlepages.com/seniorthesis2 Ian Holzhauer, "The Presidency of Calderón Guardia" (University of Florida History Thesis, 2004)]</ref> With more than 2,000 dead, the resulting 44-day [[Costa Rican Civil War]] was the bloodiest event in Costa Rica during the 20th century.

The victorious rebels formed a government junta that [[military of Costa Rica|abolished the military]] all together and oversaw the drafting of a new constitution by a democratically elected assembly.<ref name="nytimes-military"/> Having enacted these reforms, the junta transferred power to Ulate on 8 November 1949. After the ''coup d'état'', Figueres became a national hero, winning the country's first democratic election under the new constitution [[Costa Rican general election, 1953|in 1953]]. Since then, Costa Rica has held 15 additional presidential elections, the latest [[Costa Rican general election, 2022|in 2022]]. With uninterrupted democracy dating back to at least 1948, the country is the region's most stable.<ref name="peace"/><ref name="pacifism"/>