Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [19]
100 BC Costa Rica becomes part of an extensive trade network that moves gold and other goods and extends from present-day Mexico down though to the Andean empires.
1522 Spanish settlement develops in Costa Rica, though it will be several decades before the colonists can get a sturdy foothold on the land.
1540 The Kingdom of Guatemala is established by the Spanish, and includes much of Central America – Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas.
1562 Spanish conquistador Juan Vásquez de Coronado arrives in Costa Rica under the title of governor, determined to move the fringe communities of Spanish settlers to the more hospitable Central Valley.
1563 The first permanent Spanish colonial settlement in Costa Rica is established in Cartago by Juan Vásquez de Coronado, who chooses the site based on its rich and fertile volcanic soils.
1737 The future capital of San José is established, sparking a rivalry with neighboring Cartago that will eventually culminate in a civil war between the two dominant cities.
1821 Following a unanimous declaration by Mexico on behalf of all of Central America, Costa Rica finally gains its independence from Spain after centuries of colonial occupation.
April 1823 The Costa Rican capital officially moves to San José after intense skirmishes with the conservative residents of Cartago, who take issue with the more liberal longings of the power-hungry josefinos.
December 1823 The Monroe Doctrine formerly declares the intentions of the USA to be the dominant imperial power in the Western Hemisphere despite protests from European powers.
1824 The Nicoya-Guanacaste region votes to secede from Nicaragua and become a part of Costa Rica, though the region’s longing for independence from both countries continues to this day.
1856 Costa Rica puts a damper on the expansionist aims of the war hawks in the USA by defeating William Walker and his invading army at the epic Battle of Santa Rosa.
1889 Costa Rica’s first democratic elections are held, a monumental event given the long history of colonial occupation, though unfortunately blacks and women were prohibited by law to vote.
1890 The construction of the railroad between San José and Puerto Limón is finally completed despite years of hardships and countless deaths due to accidents, and diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.
1900 The population of Costa Rica reaches 50,000 as the country begins to develop and prosper due to the increasingly lucrative international coffee and banana trades.
1914 Costa Rica is given an economic boost following the opening of the Panama Canal. The canal was forged by 75,000 laborers, many thousands of whom died during construction.
1919 Federico Tinoco Granados is ousted as the dictator of Costa Rica in one of the few episodes of brief violence in an otherwise peaceful political history.
1940 Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia is elected president and proceeds to improve working conditions in Costa Rica by enacting minimum-wage laws as well as an eight-hour day.
1940s José Figueres Ferrer becomes involved in national politics and opposes the ruling conservatives. Figueres’ social-democratic policies and criticism of the government angers the Costa Rican elite and President Calderón.
1948 Conservative and liberal forces clash, resulting in a six-week civil war that leaves 2000 Costa Ricans dead, many more wounded and destroys much of the country’s fledgling infrastructure.
1949 Hoping to heal its wounds while charting a bold new course for the future, the temporary government enacts a new constitution abolishing the army, desegregating the country, and granting women and blacks the right to vote.
1963 Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco at the tip of the Nicoya peninsula becomes Costa Rica’s first federally protected conservation area through the efforts of Swedish and