Costa Rica as a Peaceful State

Costa Rica as a Peaceful State: One Costa Rican Lawyer’s Odyssey v. His Nation’s Establishment

In its most positive light, Costa Rica has had a long and impressive history as a pacifist state. This history finds its roots in the colonial period, starting with Columbus’ fourth and final voyage in 1502. The Spaniards called the present-day area the “Rich Coast,” but Costa Rica possessed little gold or other valuable minerals, and lacked a large and centralized indigenous population to be exploited. As a result, the area grew largely isolated from the other, more resource-rich colonies (mainly extracting ore and employing forced labor) and developed relatively autonomously from the rest of the Spanish Captain Generalship of Guatemala, as an egalitarian and family-oriented agrarian society. Perhaps for the better, Costa Rica generally evaded the typical genocidal struggles against “new world” colonialism.

Independence for Central America

News of Central America’s independence, declared on September 15th, 1821, did not reach Costa Rica until the end of the year. After being annexed by Mexico, a short civil war severed their ties and the country joined the United Provinces of Central America (which would become the Federal Republic of Central America), remaining a member for nearly 20 years. The fact that Costa Rica’s first elected president, Juan Mora Fernandez, was an elementary school teacher by trade can be looked back upon as an indication of the country’s future commitments to programs of social welfare that have long served as the backbone of the country. In 1877, Costa Rica became the third country in the world to abolish the death penalty, after Venezuela (1863) and San Marino (1865).

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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Ethan Katz and COHA Research Associate Matthew Lackey

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