The Caste War of Yucatán (1847–1901) began with the revolt of Native Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula against Hispanic populations, called Yucatecos. The latter had long held political and economic control of the region. A lengthy war ensued between the Yucateco forces in the northwest of the Yucatán and the independent Maya in the southeast. There was regular raiding between them.
Costa Rican culture has been heavily influenced by Spanish culture ever since the Spanish colonization of the Americas including the territory which today forms Costa Rica. Parts of the country have other strong cultural influences, including the Caribbean province of Limón and the Cordillera de Talamanca which are influenced by Jamaican immigrants and indigenous native people, respectively.
Limón is one of seven provinces in Costa Rica. The province covers an area of 9,189 km², and has a population of 386,862.
The Bribri are an indigenous people of Costa Rica. They live in the Talamanca canton in Limón Province of Costa Rica. They speak the Bribri language and Spanish. There are varying estimates of the population of the tribe. According to a census by the Ministerio de Salud, there are 11,500 Bribri living within service range of the Hone Creek Clinic alone. They are a voting majority in the Puerto Viejo de Talamanca area. Other estimates of tribal population in Costa Rica range much higher, reaching 35,000.
Talamanca is a canton in the Limón province of Costa Rica. The head city is Bribri, located in Bratsi district.
Formed in December 1999, Acción de Lucha Anti-Petrola (ADELA) is a Costa Rican grassroots environmental group created to oppose offshore oil exploration and drilling. Translated into English as "Anti-Petroleum Action," ADELA is named after a local indigenous woman who was "struggling to defend her culture and local environment against outside forces." ADELA initially consisted of 30 local citizen's groups ranging from farmers' organizations and the fisherman's union, to religious groups, small business owners, and marine biologists. ADELA now comprises over 100 local citizens' organizations. The various groups came together to form ADELA after becoming aware of the negative environmental impact of seismic reflection explorations being conducted by Harken Costa Rica Holdings in November 1999.
Costa Rica's official and predominant language is Spanish. The variety spoken there, Costa Rican Spanish, is a form of Central American Spanish.
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a coastal town in Talamanca in Limón Province in southeastern Costa Rica, known simply as Puerto Viejo to locals. The town was originally called Old Harbour until the Costa Rican government institutionalized Spanish as the national language and changed the names of the towns and landmarks in the area from English to Spanish or Native American. Fields became Bri Bri. Bluff became Cahuita. There is another town commonly known as Puerto Viejo in northeastern Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, which can confuse visitors. Buses leaving the same San José station for either of the Puerto Viejos display the same destination, "Puerto Viejo".
Indigenous people of Costa Rica, or Native Costa Ricans, are the people who lived in what is now Costa Rica prior to European and African contact and the descendants of those peoples. About 114,000 indigenous people live in the country, comprising 2.4% of the total population. Indigenous Costa Ricans strive to keep their cultural traditions and language alive.
The Cabécar are an indigenous group of the remote Talamanca region of eastern Costa Rica. They speak Cabécar, a language belonging to the Chibchan language family of the Isthmo-Colombian Area of lower Central America and northwestern Colombia. According to census data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica, the Cabécar are the largest indigenous group in Costa Rica with a population of nearly 17,000.
Santiago Mayas was a native King of Talamanca, Costa Rica, born around 1834. He belonged to the ethnic group of the Bribris, of which he was crowned in 1862, although subject to the authority of King Chirimo, which he succeeded around 1870. In his youth he befriended many foreign visitors, and as king appointed as his secretary the American marine John H. Lyon, who married one of his relatives.
Birche was an indigenous king of Costa Rica at the end of the 19th century, pertaining to the Bribri ethnic group. He was a relative of King Santiago Mayas, in whose murder he participated in January 1872, due to his links with the rebel leader Lapis. He was proclaimed successor of Mayas and went to Limón to meet with the Costa Rican governor of the region, who granted him the governmental recognition, despite his participation in the regicide. As second leader was recognized another relative of his, William Forbes, nicknamed King Willie.
William Forbes, known as "King Willie" was an indigenous king of Talamanca, in Costa Rica, belonging to the Bribri ethnic group. He was a close relative of King Santiago Mayas, but backed another cousin of his, Lapis, in his failed attempt to overthrow that monarch. Later, he participated in the conspiracy that resulted in the assassination of Mayas in January 1872. When King Birche ascended to power, Forbes was proclaimed as the second chief of the Talamanca Indians.
Antonio Saldaña was a Bribri cacique and the last king of Talamanca in Costa Rica.
The Cacicazgo de Talamanca was a Costa Rican indigenous manor that existed prior to the Spanish conquest and during the colony. It had borders on the north with the kingdom of Tariaca, on the west with Chirripó and on the southeast with the river Changuinola, natural border with the Terbis. Within the kingdom coexisted two indigenous groups, the Bribris and the Cabécares.
Pablo Presbere was an indigenous king of the community of Suinse, in the region that is now known as Talamanca, in the south-east of Costa Rica. He is remembered as the indigenous leader who led the aboriginal insurrection in "Tierra Adentro" against the Spanish authorities on September 29, 1709, in the course of which several friars and soldiers and the wife of one of these were killed and fourteen temples erected by the missionaries were set ablaze. The rebellion was supported by all the natives of Costa Rica from Cerro Chirripó to Isla Tojar, in Almirante Bay, Panama, with the exception of the Viceitas, and allowed the aboriginals to regain control of the territory of Talamanca, which became in a refuge area during the colonial period of Costa Rica. He was known as the most feared warrior in Talamanca. Some sources argue that his original indian name "Pabru" means "chief of the macaw" and "Preberi" would be "Place of running waters". The macaw is a bird of religious significance for the Bribri people thus, some scholars argue that Presbere was actually a shaman or religious leader and not from a warrior caste, which may also explain both the respect that he inspired in other natives and the fear that the Spaniards had for him.
The Indigenous Territory of Kéköldi is one of the Costa Rican indigenous communities and one of the four of the Bribri people. It was created in 1977 and has about 210 inhabitants. It is located in the Talamanca-Caribe biological corridor that covers about 36,000 hectares in the canton of Talamanca, Limón Province. Since 1994, the reserve is run by the Kéköldi Wak ka Köneke Association, which works to preserve indigenous culture and purchase additional land to reforest and conserve. The majority of the population speaks both Bribri and Spanish. The reserve has a biological station for scientific research and a bird watching area for tourists.
The Bribri Talamanca Indigenous Territory is one of the four Costa Rican indigenous territories of the Bribri ethnic group. It borders the Talamanca Cabecar Indigenous Territory. It was created by decree in 1985 and is located in the canton of Talamanca, Limón Province. It covers an approximate area of 43,690 hectares of a predominantly mountainous area.
Ramón Almengor was the last king of the indigenous Bribris. The son of María Saldaña and Floripo Almengor, he was the nephew of Antonio Saldaña, the last king of Talamanca who died in 1910. While Saldaña enjoyed the recognition of Bribris, Cabécares, Changuinolas and Borucas and of the recognition of the government of Costa Rica, Siarke was only recognized by the Bribris. He died of tuberculosis at the San Juan De Dios Hospital in San José on 28 January 1922.
Correque was an indigenous monarch of Costa Rica, king of the Eastern Huetares, who lived in the 16th century. He had several residences and resisted the Conquistadors for some time until he moved one of his courts from Ujarrás to Tucurrique to escape them. He was preceded by El Guarco and succeeded by Alonso Correque.
