Republic of Costa Rica

Costa Rica  Area: 51,100 sq. km
Population: 4,516,220 (July 2010 est.)
Capital city: San Jose
President, Chief of State and Head of Government: President Oscar ARIAS Sanchez (since 8 May 2006)

History

• September 18, 1502 – Christopher Columbus was the first European explorer to encounter Costa Rica. Columbus was making his fourth and final voyage to the New World. As he was setting anchor off shore, a crowd of local Carib Indians paddled out in canoes and greeted his crew warmly

• Civilization existed in Costa Rica for thousands of years before the arrival of Columbus, and evidence of human occupation in the region dates back 10,000 years

• Among the cultural mysteries left behind by the area’s pre-Columbian inhabitants are thousands of perfectly spherical granite bolas that have been found near the west coast. The sizes of these inimitable relics range from that of a baseball to that of a Volkswagen bus. Ruins of a large, ancient city complete with aqueducts were recently found east of San Jose, and some marvelously sophisticated gold and jade work was being wrought in the southwest as far back as 1,000 years ago. Some archeological sites in the central highlands and Nicoya peninsula have shown evidence of influence from the Mexican Olmec and Nahuatl civilizations

• There were four major indigenous tribes living in Costa Rica when Christopher Columbus arrived. The Caribs lived on the east coast, while the Borucas, Chibchas, and Diquis resided in the southwest

• Some of these people fled after the dawn of Spanish colonialism, while many others perished from the deadly smallpox brought by the Spaniards

• The Spanish brought in African slaves to work the land. Seventy thousand of their descendants live in Costa Rica today, and the country is known for good relations among races

• Costa Rica enjoyed the least influence as a colony. The Spanish were far more interested in developing their holdings in Mexico and Peru, where vast amounts of silver and gold were being obtained

• 1562: Juan Vasquez de Coronado founded Cartago – the first successful establishment of a colonial city

• 1821: Mexico rebelled against Spain. Costa Rica and the rest of Central America followed suit

• 1823: A faction in Costa Rica opted to become part of Mexico, sparking a civil war in the country’s center between four neighboring cities. After the republican cities of San Jose and Alajuela soundly defeated the pro-Mexican Heredia and Cartago, sovereignty was established

• 1824: The first head of state, Juan Mora Fernandez was elected. 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. It was under Mora’s leadership that Costa Rican volunteers managed to repulse a would-be conqueror, the North American William Walker

• 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. Not to be discouraged, he next invaded Panama, where he briefly seized control before being forced to flee–into Costa Rica. After his bid for despotic rule there was defeated by Mora’s forces, the indomitable Walker turned his attentions to Honduras. The Hondurans, unlike their predecessors on Walker’s list, captured him, and Walker was finally and summarily executed

• 1870: General Tomas Guardia seized control of the government and made some of the country’s most progressive reforms in education, military policy, and taxation

• 1948: The Costa Rican civil war erupted, 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. Ferrer was immensely popular, creating a political legacy that firmly cemented Costa Rica’s liberal democratic values

• 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

Economy

Prior to the global economic crisis, Costa Rica enjoyed stable economic growth. The economy contracted by about 2% in 2009. While the traditional agricultural exports of bananas, coffee, sugar, and beef are still the backbone of commodity export trade, a variety of industrial and specialized agricultural products have broadened export trade in recent years. High value added goods and services, including microchips, have further bolstered exports. Tourism continues to bring in foreign exchange, as Costa Rica’s impressive biodiversity makes it a key destination for ecotourism. Foreign investors remain attracted by the country’s political stability and relatively high education levels, as well as the fiscal incentives offered in the free-trade zones. The US-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) entered into force on 1 January 2009.

Mining History

• Gold mining in Costa Rica began in 1815 in the Montes de Aguacate — a mountainous area along the route traveled between the Central Valley and the Pacific port of Puntarenas

• The town of Las Juntas de Abangares was founded when Costa Rica was stricken with “gold fever” in the late 1800s. Besides immigrants from inside the territory, there were others struck by the gold fever who also came to Costa Rica as far as China and Europe. They made the long trip to the Abangares Region hoping to strike it rich and settled in the area. Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Ukrainian and Chinese last names are common nowadays in town and many different ethnic features can be observed in the faces of many locals

• As a result of this activity, the government began minting coins in 1824. By 1833, gold exports accounted for 48% of the country’s total exports

• The town of Las Juntas was built at the confluence of two rivers, thus its name: Las Juntas, which in Spanish mean the union of two things. The name Abangares comes from “Avancari,” an Indian chief who ruled the territory during the Spanish conquest

• The first large scale mining company in Costa Rica was “The Abangares Gold Field of Costa Rica”

• The opening of the gold mines transformed the sleepy little town of Las Juntas into a flourishing community of unprecedented growth in the region

• The gold mining industry in Costa Rica has been since its beginning in the hands of foreign investors who have taken advantage of sizeable tax breaks inside and outside Costa Rica. Friendly and open to foreign capital, Costa Rican governments have always welcomed investment from abroad