HISTORY. Costa Rica was first visited, and probably named, by Columbus in 1502. and set tled permanently about 1530. It formed a part of the Audieneia and Captain-aeneraley of Guatemala till 1S21. With other Central Ameri can States, Costa Rica was a part of Mexico till 1823. when the proclamation of a Mexican republic caused them to withdraw from a con nection which had always been distasteful and which in effect had been merely nominal. A federal republic of the seceding States was first tried. It lasted until 1839. but its authority does not seem to have extended over the Costa Ricans, who busied themselves with commerce and took little interest in public matters. Af fairs remained in an unsettled condition, how ever, and Costa Rica's exact status was not definitely determined until 1848, when she sue eessfully declared herself an independent repub li•. In 1856 Costa Rica was involved in war against the filibuster William Walker (q.v.). The country has been freer from revolution than its neighbors. The present Constitution dates from 1871. In 1807 Costa Rica became a mem ber of the short-lived Greater Republic of Cen tral America, established in 1595 by Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador for the purpose of com mon defense and the harmonious adjustment of fo•eigit relations. Within the last half-dozen
years nothing more serious than boundary dis putes has disturbed the Government of Costa Rica. The most important of these, with Colombia, was adjusted in 1900, in favor of Costa Rica. Besides the general works on Cen tral America. of which Squier, States of :42nerica (New York, 185S), is the best, and Bancroft. Central Americo. vol. iii. (San Fran cisco. 1890). is the most copious. consult the English translation of Calvo, Republic of Costa Rica (Chicago, 1890). This is a popular and patriotic work. authorized by the Costa Rican Government, and gives the version of political and commercial events most acceptable to the men in power in 1890.
Consult: Barrantes, Gcografia de Costa Rica (Barcelona, 1S92) Villafranea, Costa Rica, the Gem, of American Republics: The Land, Its Re sources and Its People (New York, 1895) ; Church, "Costa Rica," in Geographical Journal, vol. x. (London, 1897); Biollev, Costa Rica and Her Future (Washington, 1SSO) : Schroeder, Cos ta Rica State Immigration (San Jose, 1894).