Costa Rica is the penultimate link in a chain of small nations that together comprise the isthmus of Central America. Along with the Caribbean and the Pacific, Costa Rica's borders are defined by Nicaragua to the North and Panama to the South. Located at the nexus of two continents and two oceans, this confluence of land and water makes the region one of mother nature's great bottlenecks.
The first European explorer to encounter Costa Rica was the Great Navigator himself, Christopher Columbus. The day was September 18, 1502, and Columbus was making his fourth and final voyage to the New World. By the time the Columbus arrived, there were four major indigenous tribes living in Costa Rica. The east coast was the realm of the Caribs, while the Borucas, Chibchas, and Diquis resided in the southwest.
When Mexico rebelled against Spain in 1821, Costa Rica and the rest of Central America followed suit. Two years later, a faction in Costa Rica even opted to become part of Mexico. After the republican cities of San Jose and Alajuela soundly defeated the pro-Mexican Heredia and Cartago, sovereignty was established.
The first head of state was Juan Mora Fernandez, elected in 1824. Best remembered for his land reforms, Fernandez followed a progressive course but inadvertantly created an elite class of powerful coffee barons. The barons later overthrew the nation's first president, Jose Maria Castro, who was succeeded by Juan Rafael Mora.
Walker was a disgruntled southerner who thought that the United States should annex Central America and turn it into a slave state. He was a lunatic, and a dangerous rather than charming one. With a piecemeal army of about 50 men, Walker had earlier invaded Mexico, where he had been captured and then released back to the States, next invaded Panama where he briefly seized control before being forced to flee-into Costa Rica.
Military rule has reared its head in Costa Rica from time to time, though it has not been marked by the sort of violent extremism that has occurred elsewhere in Central America. In 1870, when General Tomas Guardia seized control of the government, made reforms in education, military policy, and taxation.
The Costa Rican civil war erupted in 1948, after incumbent Dr. Rafael Angel Calderon and the United Social Christian Party refused to relinquish power after losing the presidential election. An exile named Jose Maria (Don Pepe) Figueres Ferrer managed to defeat Calderon in about a month, and he later proved to be one of Costa Rica's most influential leaders, as head of the Founding Junta of the Second Republic of Costa Rica. Under Ferrer's leadership, the Junta made vast reforms in policy and civil rights. Women and blacks gained the vote, the communist party was banned, banks were nationalized, and presidential term limits established.
In 1987, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez garnered world recognition when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending the Nicaraguan civil war. During that conflict, both the Sandanistas and the Contras set up military bases in the northern area of Costa Rica, and Arias was elected under the promise that he would work to put an end to this situation. He was able to get all five Central American presidents to sign his peace plan, and Nicaragua is now experiencing relative stability.
Historically, Costa Rica has been relatively impoverished in the area of native arts and crafts. The country, with its relatively small and heterogeneous pre-Columbian population (devastated at an early stage), had no unique cultural legacy that could spark a creative synthesis where the modern and the traditional might merge. Social tensions (often catalysts to artistic expression) felt elsewhere in the isthmus were lacking. More recently, creativity has been stifled by the Ticos' desire to praise the conventional lavishly and criticize rarely.
Catholicism is recognized as the official religion in Costa Rica; many Ticos will claim they are Catholic, but very few actually follow the religion's doctrine wholeheartedly. The "Virgen de los Angeles" known as "La Negrita" is the most important symbol of the catholic religion. Costa Ricans speak standard American Spanish, but they usually utilize the respectful "Usted" form of addressing one another.
Most music and the most representative folklore comes from the north of the country (the part that once had heavy Mayan influence), including the Nicoya Peninsula, and the Atlantic coast (Afro-Caribbean culture). Costa Rican music includes a rhythm known as tambito as well a distinctive musical genre known as punto. Two examples are the punto guanacasteco, which hails from Guanacaste Province, and the punto sancarleño, from San Carlos in Alajuela Province.
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