Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [14]
Though Coronado was later tragically lost at sea in a shipwreck, his legacy endured: Costa Rica was an officially recognized province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Virreinato de Nueva España), which was the name given to the viceroy-ruled territories of the Spanish empire in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Asia.
For roughly three centuries, the Captaincy General of Guatemala (also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala), which extended from modern-day Texas to Panama, with the exception of Belize, was a loosely administered colony in the vast Spanish empire. Since the political-military headquarters of the kingdom were in Guatemala, Costa Rica became a minor provincial outpost that had little if any strategic significance or exploitable riches.
As a result of its backwater status, Costa Rica’s colonial path diverged from the typical pattern in that a powerful landholding elite and slave-based economy never gained prominence. Instead of large estates, mining operations and coastal cities, modest-sized villages of smallholders developed in the interior Central Valley. According to national lore, the stoic, self-sufficient farmer provided the backbone for ‘rural democracy’ as Costa Rica emerged as one of the only egalitarian corners of the Spanish empire.
Equal rights and opportunities were not extended to the indigenous groups and as the Spanish settlement expanded, the local population decreased dramatically. From 400,000 at the time Columbus first sailed, the number was reduced to 20,000 a century later, and to 8000 a century after that. While disease was the main source of death, the Spanish were relentless in their effort to exploit the natives as an economic resource. Central Valley groups were the first to fall, though outside the valley several tribes managed to survive a bit longer under forest cover, staging occasional raids. However, as in the rest of Latin America, repeated military campaigns eventually forced them into submission and slavery.
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THE FALL OF AN EMPIRE
On October 27, 1807, the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which defined the occupation of Portugal, was signed between Spain and France. Under the guise of reinforcing the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, Napoleon moved tens of thousands of troops into Spain. In an act of military genius, Napoleon ordered his troops to abandon the ruse and seize key Spanish fortifications. Without firing a single shot, Napoleon’s troops seized Barcelona after convincing the city to open its gates for a convoy of wounded soldiers.
The Last Country the Gods Made, by Adrian Colesberry, is a collection of essays and photographs, providing an overview of Costa Rican history, geography and society.
Although Napoleon’s invasion by stealth was successful, the resulting Peninsular War was a horrific campaign of guerrilla combat that crippled both countries. As a result of the conflict as well as the subsequent power vacuum and internal turmoil, Spain lost nearly all of its colonial possessions in the first third of the 19th century.
In 1821, the Americas wriggled free of Spain’s imperial grip following Mexico’s declaration of independence for itself as well as the whole of Central America. Of course, the Central American provinces weren’t too keen on having another foreign power reign over them, and subsequently declared independence from Mexico. However, all of these events hardly disturbed Costa Rica, which learned of its liberation a month after the fact.
The newly liberated colonies pondered their fate: stay together in a United States of Central America, or go their separate national ways. At first, they came up with something in between, namely the Central American Federation (CAF), though it could neither field an army nor collect taxes. Accustomed to being at the center of things, Guatemala also attempted to dominate the CAF, alienating smaller colonies