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{{History of Costa Rica}}

[[File:Costa Rica precolombina. Aldea.JPG|thumb|275px|Typical settlement of the [[Diquis]] [[indigenous peoples of Costa Rica|indigenous people]] before the arrival of [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]].]]
The first [[indigenous peoples of Costa Rica]] were [[hunter-gatherer|hunters and gatherers]], and when the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] [[conquistadores|conquerors]] arrived, [[Costa Rica]] was divided in two distinct [[cultural area]]s due to its geographical location in the [[Intermediate Area]], between [[Mesoamerica]]n and the [[Inca Empire|Andean cultures]], with influences of both cultures.<ref name=Nicoya/><ref name=Chibchan/>

[[Christopher Columbus]] first dropped anchor in Costa Rica in 1503 at [[Isla Uvita]]. His forces overcame the [[indigenous peoples of Costa Rica|indigenous people]]. Subsequent Spanish explorers and colonizers incorporated the territory into the [[Captaincy General of Guatemala]] as a province of [[New Spain]] in 1524. For the next 300 years, Costa Rica was a colony of Spain.
As a result, Costa Rica's culture has been greatly influenced by the culture of Spain.<ref name="autogenerated1">"Costa Rica." ''Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia'' (2014): 1p. 1.; accessed 19 February 2015.</ref> During this period, Costa Rica remained sparsely developed and impoverished. Following the [[Mexican War of Independence]] (1810–1821), Costa Rica became part of the [[First Mexican Empire]] in 1821. In 1823, Costa Rica joined the [[Federal Republic of Central America]], but degrading relations with the other states caused it to secede in 1838. But following its independence, its economy struggled due to a lack of connections with European suppliers. In 1856, Costa Rica, along with several other Central American countries, joined the [[Filibuster War]] to prevent [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]] from mounting a take-over of the Nicaraguan government. After 1869, Costa Rica established a democratic government.<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

In 1885 [[Bernardo Soto Alfaro]] joins to El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico to the [[Barrios' War of Reunification]] against the Guatemala of Justo Rufino Barrios and Honduras. <ref><nowiki>https://books.openedition.org/cemca/674?lang=en</nowiki></ref> After the 1948 General elections started the [[Costa Rican Civil War]] between the Ejército de Liberación Nacional led by [[José Figueres Ferrer]], and the Costa Rican government led by [[Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia|Rafael Calderón Guardia]]. In 1955, the [[Calderonista invasion of Costa Rica|Calderonistas]] tried to overthrow the José Figueres Ferrer Government in a failed invasion with the help of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Invasión de 1955 |url=https://elespiritudel48.org/invasion-55/ }}</ref> Figueres became the president for 18 months until the restauration of the [[Otilio Ulate Blanco|Otilio Ulate's]] presidency. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Revolución 48 |date=14 April 2025 |url=https://elespiritudel48.org/revolucion-48/ }}</ref> After the [[Costa Rican Civil War]] in 1948, the government drafted a new [[constitution]], guaranteeing universal suffrage and the dismantling of the military. Today, Costa Rica is a democracy that relies on [[technology]] and [[eco-tourism]] for its economy. Although [[poverty]] has declined since the turn of the 21st century, economic problems still exist. Costa Rica is facing problems of [[underemployment]], foreign and internal debt, and a trade deficiency.<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

== Hunter-gatherers ==
The oldest evidence of human occupation in [[Costa Rica]] is associated with the existence of groups of hunter-gatherers about 10,000 to 19,000 years [[Anno Domini|BC]], with ancient archaeological evidence ([[lithic technology|stone tool making]]) located in the [[Turrialba, Costa Rica|Turrialba Valley]], at sites called Guardiria and Florence, with matching quarry and workshop areas with presence of type [[Clovis culture|clovis spearheads]] and South American inspired [[arrow]]s. All this suggests the possibility that in this area two different cultures coexisted.

The people of this era were nomadic. They were organized in family-based bands of about 20 to 30 members. Their diet consisted of [[megafauna]], such as giant [[armadillo]]s and [[sloth]]s, [[mastodons]], etc. These became extinct about 8,000 years before the modern era. The first settlers had to adapt to hunting smaller animals and develop appropriate strategies to adjust to the new conditions.

==Pre-Columbian Costa Rica==
{{Main|Pre-Columbian history of Costa Rica}}
{{multiple image|perrow=2/2|total_width=300|caption_align=center
| image1 = Parque de las Esferas de Costa Rica.JPG
|caption1= Pre-Columbian [[Stone spheres of Costa Rica|stone spheres]] made by the [[Diquis]] culture
| image2 = Pre-Columbian incense burner, Costa Rica (Carlos Museum).jpg|caption2=Ceramic incense burner
| image3 = Ceramicas Nicoya.jpg|caption3=Pre-Columbian ceramics from the [[Nicoya culture]]
| image4 = Diquis Human Effigy Pendant.jpg|caption4=Diquis human effigy pendant
}}
In [[Pre-Columbian]] times, the [[indigenous peoples of Costa Rica|native peoples]] in what is now [[Costa Rica]] were divided in two [[cultural area]]s due to its geographical location in the [[Intermediate Area]], between the [[Mesoamerican]] and the [[Inca Empire|Andean]] cultural regions.<ref name=Nicoya/><ref name=Chibchan/>

The northwest of the country, the [[Nicoya Peninsula]], was the southernmost point of Mesoamerican cultural influence when the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] [[conquistadores|conquerors]] came in the sixteenth century. The [[Nicoya culture]] was the largest ''[[Cacique|cacicazgo]]'' on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.<ref name=Nicoya>{{cite web| url = http://archaeology.about.com/od/nterms/a/nicoya.htm| title = Greater Nicoya Culture - Precolumbian culture of Costa Rica and Nicaragua Nicoya<!-- Bot generated title -->| access-date = 2012-05-22| archive-date = 2013-10-12| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131012075414/http://archaeology.about.com/od/nterms/a/nicoya.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref> The central and southern portions of the country belonged to the [[Isthmo-Colombian Area|Isthmo-Colombian cultural area]] with strong [[Muisca]] influences, as these were part of territories occupied predominantly by speakers of the [[Chibchan languages]].<ref name=Chibchan>{{cite book |author1=Hoopes, John W. |author2=Oscar Fonseca Z. |year=2003 |title=Goldwork and Chibchan Identity:Endogenous Change and Diffuse Unity in the Isthmo-Colombian Area |url=http://www.doaks.org/GoldandPower/GoldandPower02.pdf |format=Online text reproduction |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=0-82631-000-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225191811/http://www.doaks.org/GoldandPower/GoldandPower02.pdf |archive-date=2009-02-25 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Quilter, Jeffrey and John W. Hoopes, editors |year=2003 |title=Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia |url=https://archive.org/details/goldpowerinancie0000unse |format=Online text reproduction |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=0-88402-294-3 |url-status=dead |url-access=registration |access-date=2019-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327125942/https://archive.org/details/goldpowerinancie0000unse/ |archive-date=2019-03-27 }}</ref> The [[Diquis]] culture flourished from 700 CE to 1530 CE and were well known for their crafts in metal and stonework.<ref name=Museo>{{cite web|title=Diquís|url=http://www.precolombino.cl/en/culturas-americanas/culturas-precolombinas/intermedia/diquis/|publisher=Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino|access-date=25 March 2012}}</ref>

The indigenous people have influenced modern Costa Rican culture to a relatively small degree. In the years soon after European encounter, many of the people died due to [[infectious diseases]], such as [[measles]] and [[smallpox]], which were endemic among the Europeans but to which they had no immunity.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/variables/smallpox.html| title = The Story Of... Smallpox| website = [[PBS]]}}</ref>

==Spanish colonization==
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|image1= Ruinas Iglesia Ujarras 02 2022 5362.jpg
|caption1= The [[Ujarrás]] historical site in the Orosí Valley, [[Cartago province]]. The church was built between 1686 and 1693 CE.
|image2= Pablo Presbere Album de Figueroa (1).jpg
|caption2= Violent uprising of Indians in Talamanca region, 1709 CE.
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The colonial period began when [[Christopher Columbus]] reached the eastern coast of Costa Rica on his [[Fourth voyage of Columbus|fourth voyage]] on September 18, 1502.  Numerous subsequent Spanish expeditions followed, eventually leading to the first Spanish colony in Costa Rica, {{ILL|Villa de Bruselas|es}}, founded in 1524.<ref>[http://www.guiascostarica.com/history.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501191704/http://www.guiascostarica.com/history.htm|date=May 1, 2013}}</ref>

During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the [[Captaincy General of Guatemala]], which was nominally part of the [[New Spain|Viceroyalty of New Spain]] (i.e., [[Mexico]]). In practice it operated as a largely autonomous entity within the [[Spanish Empire]]. Costa Rica's distance from the capital in [[Guatemala]], its legal prohibition under Spanish law against trading with its southern neighbors in [[Panama]], then part of the [[Viceroyalty of New Granada]] (i.e., [[Colombia]]), and the lack of resources such as [[gold]] and [[silver]], resulted in Costa Rica attracting few inhabitants. It was a poor, isolated, and sparsely inhabited region within the Spanish Empire.<ref>{{cite news | title= A Brief History of Costa Rica: Colonial Times | url =http://www.horizontes.com/en/history.html | access-date = 2007-12-21 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070922232020/http://www.horizontes.com/en/history.html |archive-date = September 22, 2007}}</ref> A Spanish governor in 1719 described Costa Rica as "the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America."<ref>{{cite book |author=Shafer, D. Michael |title=Winners and losers: how sectors shape the developmental prospects of states |url=https://archive.org/details/winnerslosershow00shaf |url-access=registration |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y. |year=1994 |isbn=0-8014-8188-0 }}</ref>

Many historians say that the area suffered a lack of indigenous population available for [[Encomienda|forced labor]], which meant that most of the Costa Rican settlers had to work their own land. This prevented the establishment of large ''[[hacienda]]s''. For all these reasons Costa Rica was by and large unappreciated and overlooked by the [[Habsburg Spain|Spanish Crown]] and left to develop on its own.  The small landowners' relative poverty, the lack of a large indigenous labor force, the population's ethnic and linguistic homogeneity, and Costa Rica's isolation from the Spanish colonial centers in Mexico and the Andes, all contributed to the development of an autonomous and individualistic agrarian society. Even the Governor had to farm his own crops and tend to his own garden due to his poverty.<ref name="costarica1">{{cite web |url=http://www.costarica.com/Destinations/Cities-and-Towns/Cartago/ |title=Costa Rica – Cartago |publisher=Costarica.com |date=2009-05-22 |access-date=2010-06-26 |archive-date=2008-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222050056/http://www.costarica.com/Destinations/Cities-and-Towns/Cartago/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The failure to build a colonial society based on indigenous and slave labor led to a peasant economy in the 1700s.<ref name="Duke University Press">{{cite book|last1=Palmer, eds|first1=Steven|last2=Molina, eds|first2=Ivan|title=The Costa Rican Reader: History, Culture, Politics|date=October 29, 2004|publisher=Duke University Press}}</ref>

During the time of conquest, as many as twenty distinct indigenous societies, numbering in the hundreds of thousands and speaking many different languages, inhabited the area.<ref name="Duke University Press"/> The Spanish conquest of Costa Rica lasted more than half a century after it started 1510.<ref name="Duke University Press"/>  The genocidal enslavement of the indigenous societies of Nicoya on the Pacific North coast was the conquest's first stage. Its second phase began with fruitless attempts to consolidate a Spanish settlement on the country's Caribbean side.  In the process, Spaniards reduced the indigenous population to the point of extinction through disease, war, reprisals, relocation and brutal exploitation. The Native American population stood at about 120,000 in 1569 and had fallen to 10,000 by 1611.<ref name="Duke University Press"/>

{{Disputed inline|text=An [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]] tradition also arose.  Costa Rica became a "rural democracy" with no oppressed [[mestizo]] or indigenous class. It was not long before [[Spanish people|Spanish]] settlers turned to the hills, where they found rich volcanic soil and a milder [[climate]] than that of the lowlands.<ref name="costarica1"/>|Disputed Statement|date=January 2016}}
{{-}}

==Independence from Spain==
[[File:Gregorio Jose Ramirez y Castro.png|thumb|[[Gregorio José Ramírez]] was the most notable political chief of the province of Costa Rica, leading republican forces victorious in the [[Battle of Ochomogo]].]]
In the early 19th century, [[Napoleon I|Napoleon]]'s occupation of Spain led to the outbreak of revolts all across Spanish America. In New Spain, all of the fighting by those seeking independence was done in the center of that area from 1810 to 1821, what today is central Mexico. Once the Viceroy was defeated in the capital city—today [[Mexico City]]—in 1821, the news of independence was sent to all the territories of New Spain, including the Intendencies of the former [[Captaincy General of Guatemala]]. Costa Rica joined the other Central American Intendancies in a joint declaration of independence from Spain, the [[Act of Independence of Central America|1821 Act of Independence]].

On October 13, 1821, the documents arrived at [[Cartago, Costa Rica|Cartago]], and an emergency meeting was called upon by Governor {{ILL|Juan Manuel de Cañas|es}}. There were many ideas on what to do upon gaining independence, such as joining Mexico, joining Guatemala or Nueva Granada (today Colombia). A group was declared (Junta de Legados), which created the temporary {{ILL|Junta Superior Gubernativa de Costa Rica|es}} while, "the clouds clear up" ("Mientras se aclaraban los nublados del día"), was a famous phrase of the events of the day.

Independence from Spain was acknowledged and ratified on October 29, 1821, by the colonial authorities. It was then ratified in the cities of [[San José, Costa Rica|San José]] on November 1, 1821, at [[Cartago Province|Cartago]] on November 3, 1821, at [[Heredia Province|Heredia]] on November 11, 1821, and [[Alajuela]] on November 25, 1821.<ref>Mi Patria, Fascículo #5, "Acta de la Independencia de Costa Rica", ''La Nación'', September 4, 2013</ref>

After the declaration of independence, the New Spain parliament intended to establish a commonwealth whereby the King of Spain, [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]], would also be Emperor of New Spain, but in which both countries were to be governed by separate laws and with their own legislative offices. Should the king refuse the position, the law provided for a member of the [[House of Bourbon]] to accede to the New Spain throne.  Ferdinand VII did not recognize the colony's independence and said that Spain would not allow any other European prince to take the throne of New Spain.

By request of Parliament, the president of the regency, [[Agustín de Iturbide]], was proclaimed emperor of New Spain, which was renamed Mexico. The [[First Mexican Empire|Mexican Empire]] was the official name given to this monarchical regime from 1821 to 1823. The territory of the Mexican Empire included the continental intendancies and provinces of New Spain proper (including those of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala) (See: [[Central America under Mexican rule]]).
On 5 April 1823 the [[Battle of Ochomogo]] was fought between imperialist forces from Cartago led by [[Joaquín de Oreamuno]] who wanted to join the Mexican Empire and republican forces led by [[Gregorio José Ramírez]] who preferred to remain independent. The Republicans won and the capital was moved from Cartago to San José. 

As early as then, Costa Ricans already had overseas impact since Costa Ricans were one of the Latin American nationalities that had soldiers and officers in the Philippines who supported their Emperor, [[Andrés Novales]]<ref>[https://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilMex.html "Filipinos In Mexico’s History 4 (The Mexican Connection – The Cultural Cargo Of The Manila-Acapulco Galleons)] By Carlos Quirino</ref> in his failed revolt against Spain.

==Central America==
{{See also|Free State of Costa Rica|League War}}
[[File:First postal stamp CR 4 Reales 1863.jpg|thumb|The 1849 [[Coat of arms of Costa Rica|national coat of arms]] was featured in the first postal stamp issued in 1862.]]
In 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor [[Agustín de Iturbide]]. A new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American Intendancies to decide their own fate. That year, the [[United Provinces of Central America]] was formed of the five Central American Intendancies under General [[Manuel José Arce]]. The Intendancies took the new name of States.  The United Provinces federation, not strongly united to begin with, rapidly disintegrated under the pressures of intra-provincial rivalries.

Following its secession from the [[Federal Republic of Central America]] in 1838, Costa Rica had no regular [[trade route]]s established to export their [[coffee]] to European markets. Lack of [[infrastructure]] caused problems in  transportation: the coffee-growing areas were mainly in the Central Valley and had access only to the port of [[Puntarenas]] on the Pacific coast. Before the [[Panama Canal]] opened, ships from Europe had to sail around [[Cape Horn]] in order to get to the Pacific Coast. In 1843, the country established a trade route to Europe with the help of [[William Le Lacheur]], a [[Guernsey]] merchant and shipowner.

In 1856, [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]], an American [[Filibuster (military)|filibuster]], began incursions into Central America. After landing in [[Nicaragua]], he proclaimed himself as president of Nicaragua and re-instated [[slavery]], which had been abolished.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.vivacostarica.com/costa-rica-information/history-of-costa-rica-4.html| title = history of costa rica<!-- Bot generated title -->| access-date = 2012-05-22| archive-date = 2018-10-26| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181026092931/http://www.vivacostarica.com/costa-rica-information/history-of-costa-rica-4.html| url-status = dead}}</ref>  He intended to expand into Costa Rica and after he entered that territory, the country declared [[Campaign of 1856–1857|war]] against his forces. Led by Commander in Chief of the Army of Costa Rica, President [[Juan Rafael Mora Porras]], the filibusters were defeated and forced out of the country. Costa Rican forces followed the filibusters into [[Rivas, Nicaragua]], where in a final battle, William Walker and his forces were finally pushed back. In this final battle, [[Juan Santamaría]], a drummer boy from [[Alajuela]], lost his life torching the filibusters' stronghold. He is today remembered as a national hero.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofcentralamerica/a/wwalker_2.htm| title = The Biography of William Walker<!-- Bot generated title -->| access-date = 2012-05-22| archive-date = 2016-01-23| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160123231750/http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofcentralamerica/a/wwalker_2.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref>

==Republic==
[[File:José María Castro Madriz.JPG|thumb|190px|[[José María Castro Madriz]] formally declared Costa Rica as independent from the [[Federal Republic of Central America]] in 1848.]]
{{See also|First Costa Rican Republic|Liberal State|Olympus Generation}}
An era of peaceful democracy in Costa Rica began in 1869 with elections. Costa Rica has avoided much of the violence that has plagued [[Central America]]. Since the late nineteenth century, only two brief periods of violence have marred its republican development. In [[1917 Costa Rican coup d'état|1917–19]], [[Federico Tinoco Granados]] ruled as a [[dictator]].

In 1948, [[José Figueres Ferrer]] led an armed uprising in the wake of a disputed presidential election. 
"With more than 2,000 dead, the 44-day [[Costa Rican Civil War]] resulting from this uprising was the bloodiest event in twentieth-century Costa Rican history."<ref>[http://www.costaricaninsider.com/costa-rican-civil-war.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131117055640/http://www.costaricaninsider.com/costa-rican-civil-war.html|date=November 17, 2013}}</ref> The victorious [[Military junta|junta]] drafted a constitution guaranteeing free elections with universal suffrage and the abolition of the military. Figueres became a national hero, winning the first election under the new constitution in 1953. Since then Costa Rica has been one of the few democracies to operate without a standing army.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.yfu.cr/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,534/Itemid,567/MenuItem,555/ | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130210021228/http://www.yfu.cr/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,534/Itemid,567/MenuItem,555/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=2013-02-10 |title = YFU Costa Rica - Democracy in Costa Rica}}</ref> The nation has held 17 successive presidential elections, all peaceful, [[2022 Costa Rican general election|the latest being in 2022]]. In May 2022, Costa Rica's new president [[Rodrigo Chaves Robles|Rodrigo Chaves]], right-wing former finance minister, was sworn in for a four-year presidential term. He had won the [[2022 Costa Rican general election|election]] runoff against former president [[José María Figueres|Jose María Figueres]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Welle (www.dw.com) |first1=Deutsche |title=Costa Rica: Rodrigo Chaves takes office as president {{!}} DW {{!}} 08.05.2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/costa-rica-rodrigo-chaves-takes-office-as-president/a-61727426 |work=DW.COM}}</ref>

Costa Rica's economy went under a transformation in 1978. The country went from being "an economic development success story" to entering a severe socio-economic crisis. Costa Rica relied on the exportation of [[banana]]s and coffee. In 1978, coffee prices dropped, and its revenues declined. In 1979, the price of oil, a main imported item, increased sharply and rapidly, plunging the country into crisis. In order to help improve the economy, President [[Rodrigo Carazo Odio|Rodrigo Carazo]] continued to borrow money internationally. This led the country into further [[National debt|debt]].<ref>Sawchuk, Dana M. ''The Costa Rican Catholic Church, Social Justice, And The Rights Of Workers, 1979–1996.'' [Electronic Resource]. n.p.: Waterloo, Ont. : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2004 (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE 2012) (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2014), 2012. Louisiana State University. Web. 19 February 2015.</ref>

Once a largely agricultural country, Costa Rica has transformed to relying on technology industry and services, and [[eco-tourism]]. Costa Rica's major source of [[export]] income is technology-based. Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and other technology-related firms have established operations in Costa Rica. Local companies create and export [[software]] as well as other computer-related products. Tourism is growing at an accelerated pace, and many believe that income from this tourism may soon become the major contributor to the nation's GDP. Traditional agriculture, particularly coffee and bananas, continues to be an important part of Costa Rica's exports.

During the period c.1864-1900, [[José María Figueroa Oreamuno]] Album and Notebooks record details of about Costa Rican current events, poltics and ethnography amongst other topics.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archivo Nacional |url=https://www.archivonacional.go.cr/index.php/component/quix/page/114 |access-date=2025-05-31 |website=Archivo Nacional |language=es-es}}</ref> 

==See also==
{{Portal|Costa Rica|History}}
*[[José Antonio Lacayo de Briones y Palacios]]
*[[List of presidents of Costa Rica]]
*[[Politics of Costa Rica]]
*[[Mining in Costa Rica]]
*[[José María Figueroa Oreamuno]]

'''General:'''
*[[History of Central America]]
*[[Spanish colonization of the Americas]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Booth, John A. ''Costa Rica: quest for democracy'' (Routledge, 2018).
* Gudmundson, Lowell. "Black into white in nineteenth century Spanish America: Afro‐American assimilation in Argentina and Costa Rica." ''Slavery and Abolition'' 5.1 (1984): 34–49.
* Gudmundson, Lowell. ''Costa Rica before coffee: Society and economy on the eve of the export boom'' (LSU Press, 1999).
* Hall, Carolyn, Héctor Pérez Brignoli, and John V. Cotter. ''Historical Atlas of Central America'' (U of Oklahoma Press, 2003).
* Johanson, Erik N., Sally P. Horn, and Chad S. Lane. "Pre-Columbian agriculture, fire, and Spanish contact: a 4200-year record from Laguna Los Mangos, Costa Rica." ''The Holocene'' 29.11 (2019): 1743–1757.
* Jones, Geoffrey, and Andrew Spadafora. "Creating Ecotourism in Costa Rica, 1970–2000." ''Enterprise & Society'' 18.1 (2017): 146–183.
* Longley, Kyle. ''Sparrow and the Hawk: Costa Rica and the United States during the Rise of José Figueres'' (University of Alabama Press, 1997).
* Mount, Graeme S. "Costa Rica and the Cold War, 1948–1990." ''Canadian Journal of History'' 50.2 (2015): 290–316.
* Olien, Michael D. "Black and part-Black populations in colonial Costa Rica: Ethnohistorical resources and problems." ''Ethnohistory'' (1980): 13-29 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/481625 online].
* Palmer, Steven and Iván Molina. ''The Costa Rica Reader: History, Culture, Politics'' Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2004.
* Putnam, Lara. ''The company they kept: migrants and the politics of gender in Caribbean Costa Rica, 1870-1960'' (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2002).
* Sandoval, Carlos. ''Threatening Others: Nicaraguans and the Formation of National Identities in Costa Rica'' (Ohio University Press, 2004).
* Shin, Gi-Wook, and Gary Hytrek. "Social conflict and regime formation: A comparative study of South Korea and Costa Rica." ''International sociology'' 17.4 (2002): 459–480 [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.933.1546&rep=rep1&type=pdf online].
* Wilson, Bruce M. ''Costa Rica: Politics, Economics, and Democracy: Politics, Economics and Democracy.'' (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998).
===Older books===
* {{cite book |title=Geography |volume=2 |series=[[English Cyclopaedia]] |editor= Charles Knight |location=London |year=1866 |publisher=Bradbury, Evans, & Co. |chapter-url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433000064794?urlappend=%3Bseq=311 |chapter=Republic of Costa Rica |hdl=2027/nyp.33433000064794?urlappend=%3Bseq=311 }}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/19970527183311/http://www.photo.net/cr/moon/history.html History of the Republic of Costa Rica from "Costa Rica Handbook" by Christopher Baker]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150402150416/http://www.costaricanarchaeology.com/ Costa Rican Archaeology]
*[http://www.isls.com/costarica/destination/history.cfm Brief History of Costa rica.com]
*[http://archaeology.about.com/od/nterms/a/nicoya.htm Early History of Costa Rica] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012075414/http://archaeology.about.com/od/nterms/a/nicoya.htm |date=2013-10-12 }}
*[https://archive.today/20130210021228/http://www.yfu.cr/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,534/Itemid,567/MenuItem,555/ Democracy in Costa Rica]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131117055640/http://www.costaricaninsider.com/costa-rican-civil-war.html Costa Rica Civil War]
*[https://www.leonawaterfall.com/blog/costa-rica-history-map-flag-climate-population-facts/ Costa Rica History, Map, Flag, Climate, Population, & Facts]

{{Costa Rica topics}}
{{History of North America}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Costa Rica}}
[[Category:History of Costa Rica| ]]