North & Central America and Caribbean

Costa Rica
Last reviewed: 18 August 2009

Country information

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HISTORY

Pre-Columbian period - Costa Rica was at the crossroads of the 2 great areas of cultural influence: the Meso-American groups (including Mayans and Aztecs) and the South American groups. The territory did not belong directly to any of the major kingdoms and the populations were distributed in small disperse tribes with no important population concentrations. The descendents of these indigenous tribes exist today, the main ones being the Bri Bri, Cabecar, Brunca, Guaymi and Huetar people.

1502 - Christopher Columbus first sets foot in Costa Rica, (Rich Coast) on his fourth and last voyage to the New World, but disease and resistance by the local population delay the establishment of a permanent settlement for nearly 60 years.
1561 - Spain's Juan de Cavallon leads the first successful colonisers into Costa Rica.
1540 onwards - Costa Rica is part of the vice-royalty of New Spain.
1821 - Central America gains independence from Spain. A dispute ensues over whether Costa Rica should join an independent Mexico or a confederation of Central American states.
1823 - Costa Rica joins the United Provinces of Central America, which also embraces El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
1838 - Costa Rica becomes fully independent.
1849-59 - Under the leadership of Juan Rafael Mora, Costa Rica takes the lead in organising Central American resistance against William Walker, the US adventurer who took over Nicaragua in 1855.
1859 - Mora ousted in a bloodless coup.
1870-82 - Under the leadership of Tomas Guardia Costa Rica encourages intensive foreign investment in railways.
1874 - US businessman Minor Cooper Keith introduces banana cultivation and starts the United Fruit Company.
1917 - Federico Tinoco ousts the elected president, Alfredo Gonzalez, but is himself deposed 2 years later.
1940-44 - President Rafael Angel Calderon Guradia, founder of the United Christian Socialist Party (PUSC), introduces liberal reforms, including recognition of workers' rights and minimum wages.
1948 - 6-week civil war over a disputed presidential election result.
1949 - Jose Figueres Ferrer, co-founder of National Liberation Party (PLN), elected president and begins ambitious socialist programme, including introducing a social security system and nationalising banks. Armed forces abolished and replaced by Civil Guard.
1958-73 - Costa Rica governed by mainly conservative administrations.
1974 - Daniel Oduber (PLN) elected president and pursues socialist policies.
1978 - Rodrigo Carazo, a conservative, elected president amid a sharp deterioration in the economy.
1982 - Luis Alberto Monge (PLN) elected president and introduces harsh austerity programme. Meanwhile, Costa Rica comes under pressure from the US to weigh in against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
1985 - US-trained anti-guerrilla force begins operating from Honduras and Costa Rica following clashes with Sandinista troops.
1986 - Oscar Arias Sanchez (PLN) elected president on a neutral platform.
1987 - Leaders of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras sign regional peace plan devised by Oscar Arias Sanchez, who in turn wins the Nobel Peace Prize for the plan.
1990 - Rafael Calderon, of the centrist PUSC, elected president.
1994 - Jose Maria Figueres Olsen (PLN) elected president.
1998 - Miguel Angel Rodriguez (PUSC) elected president.
2002 – Abel Pacheco (PUSC) elected president
2006 – Dr Oscar Arias Sanchez (PLN) elected President for a second term.
2007 - Costa Ricans vote in favour of the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement with the US in the country’s first ever referendum