When Columbus landed in 1502 there were approximately nineteen different chieftainships across the country– a mixture of both cacicazgos and señorios – accommodating a combined population of between 400,000 and 500,000 in politically and ethnically distinct groups, interacting only through socio-economic activity and warfare.
At this point the principle chieftainship was the Nicoya, situated in the Pacific North. The señorios of Guarco and Garabito in the Central Valley, and the cacicazgos of Voto on the San Carlos Plain, Corobici in the Central Highlands, Boruca and Coto in the Pacific South and Talamanca in the Caribbean Lowlands were also important.
The inhabitants of the Nicoya chieftainship and most of the area that is now Guanacaste were the Chorotegas. These people were thought to have originated in Southern Mexico, traveling down to Costa Rica in the 13th Century, probably to escape enslavement in their own country – the name actually means ‘fleeing people’. Most of the information we have about the Chorotegas was collected by Gonzalo Gerández de Oviedo, a Spanish explorer who lived among them in 1529.
Heavily influenced by Olmec culture, they developed the most advanced societies in the region, bringing with them accomplished agricultural and military systems very like those of the Mesoamerican societies. Outstanding farmers, they often produced as many as three corn harvests a year, and introduced cacao, using the beans as currency. They used a ritual calendar and practiced religious rites resembling those further north. Human sacrifice existed although it was less prevalent than in Mayan and Aztec civilization, and was usually performed in celebrations coinciding with the corn harvest. Inter-tribal tension was widespread and wars to ‘defend tribal identity,’ 5 take slaves and to obtain women to procreate with were endemic.
The Chibcha and Diquis people, living in the South Pacific region, probably migrated up from Colombia, bringing with them Andean customs and practices. They had a highly developed slave system and were particularly war-like - perhaps due to their possession of gold – living in towns surrounded by fortified palisades. The Chibchas and Diquis were accomplished goldsmiths, creating expertly worked amulets, tweezers, beads, pendants and religious icons, decorated with fantastical animist imagery and motifs reminiscent of those found further south. They were also famed for their embroidered cloth work. These people are thought to be responsible for the granite spheres that lie in linear formations in the Rio Térraba Valley, the Golfito region and on Caño Island, off the Osa Peninsula. These spheres ranging from the size of a grapefruit to 2.5m in diameter and 16 tons in weight are one of Costa Rica’s Pre-Columbian mysteries.
The Caribs who lived in the Southern Atlantic region originated in the jungles of Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador, migrating up about 200 years before Columbus’s arrival, to settle on the islands of the Southern Caribbean and the Atlantic coasts of Costa Rica, Panama and Northern Colombia. The Caribs were part of huge mercantile circuits including Panama, Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia. The burial mounds of these people have yielded a huge number of artifacts originating throughout these regions.
Finally, the important settlements of the Central Valleys and Highlands were inhabited by the Corobici and the Nahuatls who were thought to be of Mesoamerican descent, but who benefited from the influence of both northern and southern cultures. Remains of hundreds of settlements have been found in the area revealing towns similar to those of the Andean regions, with wide cobble-stone walkways, plazas, decorative pools and water cisterns fed by sophisticated aqueduct systems. Decorative ceramic and stonework showed the use of South American motifs. This area is also home to the largest and most significant of Costa Rica’s archeological sites found to date. El Guayabo, on the slopes of Turriabla volcano, is an impressive ancient city surrounded by forest and thought to have housed as many as 15,000 people. Dating from around 1000BC it was abandoned for unknown reasons in about 1400AD. It is now open to the public as a National Monument.
The inhabitants of the Nicoya chieftainship and most of the area that is now Guanacaste were the Chorotegas. These people were thought to have originated in Southern Mexico, traveling down to Costa Rica in the 13th Century, probably to escape enslavement in their own country – the name actually means ‘fleeing people’. Most of the information we have about the Chorotegas was collected by Gonzalo Gerández de Oviedo, a Spanish explorer who lived among them in 1529.
Heavily influenced by Olmec culture, they developed the most advanced societies in the region, bringing with them accomplished agricultural and military systems very like those of the Mesoamerican societies. Outstanding farmers, they often produced as many as three corn harvests a year, and introduced cacao, using the beans as currency. They used a ritual calendar and practiced religious rites resembling those further north. Human sacrifice existed although it was less prevalent than in Mayan and Aztec civilization, and was usually performed in celebrations coinciding with the corn harvest. Inter-tribal tension was widespread and wars to ‘defend tribal identity,’ 5 take slaves and to obtain women to procreate with were endemic.
The Chibcha and Diquis people, living in the South Pacific region, probably migrated up from Colombia, bringing with them Andean customs and practices. They had a highly developed slave system and were particularly war-like - perhaps due to their possession of gold – living in towns surrounded by fortified palisades. The Chibchas and Diquis were accomplished goldsmiths, creating expertly worked amulets, tweezers, beads, pendants and religious icons, decorated with fantastical animist imagery and motifs reminiscent of those found further south. They were also famed for their embroidered cloth work. These people are thought to be responsible for the granite spheres that lie in linear formations in the Rio Térraba Valley, the Golfito region and on Caño Island, off the Osa Peninsula. These spheres ranging from the size of a grapefruit to 2.5m in diameter and 16 tons in weight are one of Costa Rica’s Pre-Columbian mysteries.
The Caribs who lived in the Southern Atlantic region originated in the jungles of Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador, migrating up about 200 years before Columbus’s arrival, to settle on the islands of the Southern Caribbean and the Atlantic coasts of Costa Rica, Panama and Northern Colombia. The Caribs were part of huge mercantile circuits including Panama, Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia. The burial mounds of these people have yielded a huge number of artifacts originating throughout these regions.
Finally, the important settlements of the Central Valleys and Highlands were inhabited by the Corobici and the Nahuatls who were thought to be of Mesoamerican descent, but who benefited from the influence of both northern and southern cultures. Remains of hundreds of settlements have been found in the area revealing towns similar to those of the Andean regions, with wide cobble-stone walkways, plazas, decorative pools and water cisterns fed by sophisticated aqueduct systems. Decorative ceramic and stonework showed the use of South American motifs. This area is also home to the largest and most significant of Costa Rica’s archeological sites found to date. El Guayabo, on the slopes of Turriabla volcano, is an impressive ancient city surrounded by forest and thought to have housed as many as 15,000 people. Dating from around 1000BC it was abandoned for unknown reasons in about 1400AD. It is now open to the public as a National Monument.
