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Traditionally Costa Rica has been a freedom-loving
country living by democratic rules and respecting human
rights.
According to archeologists, the northern part of Costa
Rica was originally inhabited by the Chorotegas, who
got their name from an ancient place in Mexico called
Cholula. Another group of pre-Columbian people migrated
from northern South America. They were skilled gold
artisans.
When Columbus set foot on the Atlantic coast at a place called
Cariari (Puerto Limón) on September 18, 1502,
he anticipated finding vast amounts of gold, so he named this
area Costa Rica rich coast in Spanish. However, unlike Mexico
and Peru, Costa Rica had neither advanced indigenous civilizations
nor large deposits of gold. The small Indian population offered
little resistance to the Spanish and was eventually wiped
out by disease. Faced with no source of cheap labor, the Spanish
colonists were forced to supply the labor themselves. Consequently,
the became quite independent and self-sufficient, and were
basically very poor. Thus, a sort of democratic, equalitarian
society developed with everyone doing their share of the work,
and few becoming very rich or very poor.
For a couple of centuries Costa Rica was almost forgotten
by Spain because it lacked trade and wealth. In fact,
Costa Rica became so isolated and unimportant to the
mother country that it didn't experience the same conquest
and domination that took place in countries to the
north and to the south. Costa Rica was so far removed
from the mainstream that there was no War of Independence
from Spain in the early 1800s, as there was in the
rest of Latin America. Costa Ricans learned of their
newly won independence from a letter that arrived one
month after independence was officially granted in
October of 1821. During this period, coffee became
the leading export and the wealth it brought to the
coffee growers allowed them to dominate politics.
In the mid-1800s the country experienced imperialism
first-hand when an impish American, named William Walker,
tried to establish himself as dictator in Central America.
Costa Ricans rallied to defend their sovereignty and
soundly beat Walker's mercenary army in a couple of
battles. Walker was eventually executed in Honduras
when he tried to conquer Central America again.
Coffee continued to be the mainstay of the economy
and allowed the rich coffee growers to dominate politics
for the rest of the 19th century.
During this time, construction on the railroad was
begun from the Atlantic coast and eventually finished
in 1890.
Costa Rica's development continued well into the 20th
century with only a few minor interruptions. In the
1940s Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia became president
and initiated a series of reforms, including a labor
code and social security system to protect the rights
of workers and citizens. The most notable achievement
was the abolition of the army forever in 1948 after
a brief civil war. The same year, a new constitution
was drafted that laid the groundwork for the most enduring
democracy in Latin America. Women received the right
to vote and all banks and insurance companies were
nationalized. Presidential terms were also limited
to prevent dictatorships.
Although the military has frequently threatened democratic
institutions throughout the rest of turbulent Latin
America, this is not the case in Costa Rica. Costa
Rica has a 5,000-man, non-political National Guard
or police force under control of the civilian government.
Like the police in the United States, they concentrate
on enforcing the law and controlling traffic.
Due to a lack of large military expenditures that
go with maintaining an army, Costa Rica has put its
money into human development and has been able to establish
one of the best all-encompassing social security systems
in the world. It also developed an excellent public
education system, hospitals, housing, modern communication
systems and roads. Every school now has at least one
computer. As a result, Costa Rica has the largest proportion
of middle class citizens in Latin America and a literacy
rate of over 90 percent. Furthermore, the prohibition
of armed forces guarantees political stability and
peace for future generations and reaffirms Costa Rica's
dedication to respecting human rights. |
