ORIGINS OF THE COSTA RICAN

 

According to legend, Costa Ricans descend from Galicians; this information is not correct. Certainly that our people have some similarity with the honest and vigorous children of Spain; their calm character, sluggish intelligence, habits of economy and work and their love to farm; but this comes not from our European ancestors but of the hard nature of the country they had to adopt due to the little Spanish population that was based in the province so abandoned and miserable during the colonial era; all these factors, produced a special character and a different type of Spaniards.

Costa Rica was formally established at the beginning of the XIX century; the city of Cartago was the capital. It had a population of 52,591 habitants, distributed in two cities; Cartago and Esparza, five villas, Nicoya, Ujarras, Villa Nueva (San Jose), Villa Vieja (Heredia) and Villa Hermosa (Alajuela)

According to the races, the population was:

Spaniards………………………...……….4,942
Indians of pure race………………..……..8,281
Ladinos and mestizos………….……….30,413
Blacks…………………………………..…….30
Mukatos and zambos, also call pardos....8,929

Indians

Pure blood Indians in Costa Rica in 1801 were just 8925, that is 170 per 1000, while on 1569 were 17166 (987 per 1000)

It is, then, in a remarkable diminution of Indians, that it is not understood by the single crossover of the races.

Ladinos and Mestizos
Twenty six years, from 1751 to 1778 the population of ladinos and mestizos grow from 3,057 to 13,917 and by the end of the century were 30,413, constituting the majority of total habitants (579 for each 1,000).

Many of this ladinos had minimum indigenes blood or perhaps none, but they did not deserve the aristocrat name of Spaniards, because of their families and the secular way of living due to the harsh sun and American soil.

Spaniards
The number of Spaniards was greater during 1751-1778 in compare with 1801. During the second half of the XVIII century many came and settle in Costa Rica.

Blacks
Only few blacks were in Costa Rica at the time and those were slaves brought from Nicaragua and Panama. Constituting in 1801 just five-ten thousandth parts of the population.

Mulatos, Zambos y Pardos

This race has come from the blacks brought on the XVI century and the beginnings of the XVII century to work on the indigo manufacturing and attendance of the cattle haciendas of Nicoya and Ezparza.