Costa Rica Caribbean

The Costa Rica Caribbean was populated by different indigenous tribes when Christopher Columbus arrived on his fourth and last trip to the new world. The exuberance and fertility that he found on the Quiribri Island (current Uvita Island) and the flamboyancy of the dresses of the indigenous, is said to be the reason why he named this land Costa Rica, which means rich coast. It is said that the name of Cahuita was given by the indigenous people of Talamalka (current Talamanca) who named it and claimed it centuries ago. It is said that these indigenous named it Cahuita because of the yellow flower trees that grew in that area. The name of the province of Limon, according to folklore, was given because of a vast lemon tree plantation that a turtle shell dealer owned in this coast.

The black population of Limon arrived to our Costa Rica Caribbean coast on the 16th century brought in as slaves from various origins. Their number increased considerably around the 17th century when the establishment of the Spanish settlers increased and they brought with them black slaves to work on their cacao plantations. Indigenous from around the area where also captured to be evangelized by the missionaries but also to be slaved and used in the sugar cane, cacao, and subsequently on banana plantations.

In the 1700s the spawning Costa Rica Caribbean is witness of a series of insurrections for the liberation of this slave population. The main movement was known as the Cimarrones and it was constituted by slaves and workers of different origins, from Afro-Caribbean slaves, to indigenous workers from the surrounding areas, mores, Jews, and mixed blood Spanish Christians.

Around 1750 fishermen and sea turtle hunters of Afro-Caribbean origin started to arrive to Costa Rica Caribbean coasts coming in from Panama and Nicaragua to establish little towns on the coast, such as Old Harbor (current Puerto Viejo), Cahuita, and Manzanillo. A very important historical event took place in the 19th century which made the economy of this young Costa Rica Caribbean grow and defined greatly the social and economical course that this area would take. It was in 1870 that the Republic of Costa Rica decided that it was necessary to build a railroad from the Central Valley, were the main coffee plantations were, to the coast of Limon to make the exportation of coffee a profitable business. The engineer Minor Keith was hired as the contractor for the construction of this railroad. Work was initiated in 1971 and the railroad was culminated in 1890. For the construction of the railroad black Jamaican workers where brought in. The establishment of the Jamaicans in Limon and their cultural exchange with the indigenous tribes of the area defined this area in Costa Rica as one very different on regards to cultural characteristics in comparison to the rest of the country; making it a very unique and richly flavored area on all cultural aspects.

In exchange to financing part of the railroad construction and directing this project, the Government of Costa Rica granted Minor Keith 100 hectares of land in the settling Costa Rica Caribbean. Inside these 100 hectares Minor Keith built a grand banana plantation which he named United Fruit Company 9 years after the railroad was finished; which became one of the most important business in Limon. The construction of the railroad diversified the business requirements which could not be satisfied by the national working power. It was during this time that the immigration of workers flourished; but only to find that they had to work under very harsh and usually slavish conditions because the Costa Rican Government banned this kind of immigration mainly for racist reasons, giving way for employers to take advantage of the needy workers.

The economical growth that marginal and rural Costa Rica Caribbean was undergoing made the population increase from 600 individuals in 1880 to a several thousand in 1927, but it was not until 1902 that Limon was decreed and thus acknowledge as a province in Costa Rica with a municipality. The harsh working conditions that this population was subject to, in addition to the melting pot of different struggling cultures, made Limon witness of many strong and fierce workers insurrections, such as strikes, riots, desertions, and other demonstrations, which demanded fairness and abolition of slavery. These struggles involved not only the participation of the African and Jamaican slaves, it also included Irish, Chinese, mixed blood Costa Ricans, Italians, and indigenous. The struggles also included respect to religious characteristics of each of these groups; such as holidays. Delays in payments and mistreatment from the overseers were also subjects that made this population rise for better working conditions.

The ethnic mobilization always present on the bubbling Costa Rica Caribbean had an important moment when the Universal Negro Improvement Association UNIA was established here, making an important mark in the history of this area as the first time when this region was united by a supra-regional organization that tied the African descendant population together. Their main objectives were the liberation from the slave working conditions and the return to the Afro-Caribbean origins.

The UNIA was guided by Marcus Garvey, who had worked on the United Fruit Company himself. He was able to unify the northern regions of Tortuguero, the urban area, and even the southern towns of the coast. In the memory of the Limon people, Marcus Garvey assembled 18000 people that came to hear his speech and totally paralyzed the port during the assembly. The UNIA organization built edifices in the black pride conscious Costa Rica Caribbean that served as meeting points of the Afro-Caribbean population. One important building was named the Black Star Line, in allusion to the navy line which this pan-African organization used as an instrument of economical development of the Caribbean area and also to return to Africa any black descendant who didn’t feel at ease with the forced immigrant situation.

Since the establishment of the agrarian Costa Rica Caribbean industry, full command in the social, economical, and legal areas was handed by the government to the Banana Industry owners; thus the development of this area was totally directed by the logic and needs of the these transnational businesses. In 1930, with the world economical recession in addition to the devastating plague of the black sigatoka, which damaged the banana fields, made the United Fruit Company decide that it was time to move to another area.

The abandonment of the banana plantations by the United Fruit Company decayed greatly the economy, the social development, and in general the whole living standards for the struggling Costa Rica Caribbean; basically the whole province was left in abandonment and isolation from the rest of the country. The worse living conditions might have been felt more by the Afro-Caribbean population that were subject to official segregation and discriminative politics, and were also forced to migrate to the Pacific coast where the new banana plantations were established. During the 1930´s many Afro-Caribbean people had to either migrate to the south pacific or to the United States taking advantage that they had relatives living there that could help them redo their lives.

The necessity of the people of the uprising Costa Rica Caribbean to have an alimentary self sufficiency from the Central Valley after the abandonment of the banana plantations, made them try to harvest different types of plantations in small and medium scale. Between these plantations we could find cassava, sugar cane, pejibaye, squash, plantains, cacao, and medicinal herbs; all of which had been harvested by the indigenous native people for long. Half wild cacao was exported successfully until a regional plague was declared in the 1970s. Plantain plantations became an imported good that was also sold inside of the country. After 1977 the area of Limon sees again a growth on the banana plantations, this time by the incursion of a series of transnational business, meaning without a monopoly, with some cooperation of the local businessmen.

By the end of the 20th century the striving Costa Rica Caribbean had another wave of immigrants, this time of American and European travelers and tourist that visited the then hard to reach Atlantic coast and just feel in love with its abundant natural beauty and the laid back life of the Caribbean. These new immigrants opened small businesses such as quaint hotels, little rustic restaurants, and basic expedition agencies thus immersing the area into the international tourism; all of which impelled the current economy of the area. Currently accommodations ranging from the budget to the very luxurious are to be found on Limon now, and after centuries of not much consideration to the environment a consciousness of environmental sustainability is being spread throughout this province.

MAN KNOW THYSELF
“For man to know himself is for him to feel that for him there is no human master. For him Nature is his servant, and whatsoever he wills in Nature, that shall be his reward. If he wills to be a pigmy, a serf or a slave, that shall he be. If he wills to be a real man in possession of the things common to man, then he shall be his own sovereign.“ Marcus Garvey.