Royal Veragua (Spanish : Veragua Real) was a Central American territory of the Crown of Castile established in 1537. It encompassed the western part of the former Gobernación de Veragua (1508–1537), from the Caribbean slopes from the Río Sixaola (the present boundary with Costa Rica) to the island Escudo de Veraguas, in what is now Panama. The eastern part was named the Duchy of Veragua and controlled by the heirs of Christopher Columbus. Royal Veragua lasted for only three years before being incorporated into the new Province of Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica in November 1540, while the Duchy was sold back by Columbus' heirs in 1556 to the Crown and became Veraguas Province in 1560. [1]
Both territories had earlier formed part of the Gobernación de Veragua, also known as Veragua colombina (Columbian Veragua). In 1537, at the conclusion of the long-running lawsuits between Columbus and his heirs and the Crown of Castille, the Duchy of Veragua was created, with Columbus's grandson Admiral Luis Colón as the first Duke. The remaining territory of the Gobernación—which had also been claimed by Columbus' heirs—, extending along the Caribbean coast from Escudo de Veraguas to Cabo Gracias a Dios, remained under royal jurisdiction and was renamed Royal Veragua. It began to be populated in 1540 under the direction of its first and only Governor, Hernán Sánchez de Badajoz. He founded the town of Badajoz in April 1540, and named it after his hometown of Badajoz, Spain. Both Badajoz and Royal Veragua had an ephemeral existence. In 1540, it was combined with other territories on the Pacific slope belonging to Castilla de Oro to create the Province of Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica.
The first natives in Costa Rica were hunters, and gatherers, and Costa Rica served as an intermediate region between Mesoamerican and Andean native cultures.
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.
Club Sport Cartaginés Deportiva S.A., also known as Cartaginés, is a Costa Rican football club, that currently plays in the Liga de Fútbol de Primera División, the top division of Costa Rican football league system. Cartaginés' home venue is Estadio Jose Rafael Fello Meza, located in Barrio Asis of Cartago.
Puerto Limón, commonly known as Limón, is the capital city and main hub of Limón province, as well as of the cantón (county) of Limón in Costa Rica. It is the second largest city in Costa Rica, with a population of over 55,000, and is home of the Afro-Costa Rican community. Part of the community traces its roots to Italian, Jamaican and Chinese laborers who worked on a late nineteenth-century railroad project that connected San José to Puerto Limón. Until 1948, the Costa Rican government did not recognize Afro-Caribbean people as citizens and restricted their movement outside Limón province. As a result of this "travel ban", this Afro-Caribbean population became firmly established in the region, which influenced decisions not to move even after it was legally permitted. Nowadays, there is a significant outflow of Limón natives who move to the country's Central Valley in search for better employment and education. The Afro-Caribbean community speaks Spanish and Limonese Creole, a creole of English.
Turrialba Volcano is an active volcano in central Costa Rica that has been explosively eruptive in recent years including 2016 and in January, March and April 2017. Visitors used to be able to hike down into the main crater, but increased volcanic activity in 2014-17, resulting in large clouds of volcanic ash, has caused the surrounding Turrialba Volcano National Park to close.
Castilla de Oro or del Oro was the name given by the Spanish settlers at the beginning of the 16th century to the Central American territories from the Gulf of Urabá, near today's Colombian-Panamanian border, to the Belén River. Beyond that river, the region was known as Veragua, and was disputed by the Spanish crown along with the Columbus family. The name "Castilla de Oro" was made official in May 1513 by King Ferdinand II of Aragon, then regent of the Crown of Castile.
Veragua or Veraguas was the name of five Spanish colonial territorial entities in Central America, beginning in the 16th century during the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica was a province of the Kingdom of Guatemala, created in 1540 during the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. It was formed from two earlier Spanish territories. The first of these was Royal Veragua, the territories on the Caribbean coast that had been part of Columbian Veragua before the creation of the Duchy of Veragua in 1537 for Admiral Luis Colón y Toledo, namely present-day Nicaragua, Costa Rica and part of Panama. The second was the Pacific coast that had constituted Castilla de Oro, namely from the Gulf of Nicoya on the west to the borders of the Duchy of Veragua.
Costa Rica's official and predominant language is Spanish. The variety spoken there, Costa Rican Spanish, is a form of Central American Spanish.
Juan Vázquez de Coronado y Anaya was a Spanish conquistador, remembered especially for his role in the colonization of Costa Rica, in Central America, where he gained a reputation for fairness, effective administration, and good relationships with the native population. He was a nephew of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján, who explored the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542.
The Pleitos colombinos were a long series of lawsuits that the heirs of Christopher Columbus brought against the Crown of Castile and León in defense of the privileges obtained by Columbus for his discoveries in the New World. Most of the lawsuits took place between 1508 and 1536.
The Governorate of New Andalusia was a Spanish colonial entity in present-day Venezuela, from 1501 to 1513.
The Columbian Viceroyalty, Viceroyalty of India or First Viceroyalty in the Indies is the name that designates the number of titles and rights granted to Christopher Columbus by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492 on the lands discovered and undiscovered, before embarking on his first trip that culminated in the discovery of the Americas.
Costa Rica–Spain relations refers to the diplomatic relations between Costa Rica and Spain. Both nations are members of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language and the Organization of Ibero-American States.
The Ochomogo War or Costa Rican Civil War of 1823 was Costa Rica's first civil war, and was fought shortly after the country became independent from Spain.
Diego Gutiérrez y Toledo was the first governor of Nuevo Cartago y Costa Rica Province, established by the Crown of Castile within the Captaincy General of Guatemala in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Named governor on 29 November 1540, he did not begin acting as such until late 1543 due to a series of difficulties. On 22 November 1543 he founded the village of Santiago in Costa Rica and on 4 October 1544 he founded the village of San Francisco, abdandoning Santiago. In San Francisco he hosted several local chiefs, who he later held for ransom. One of the chiefs escaped and another one admitted not having valuables to offer. Consequently, Gutiérrez y Toledo subjected him to servitude, which prompted other indigenous groups to destroy the Spanish colony in retaliation. Gutiérrez y Toledo and the rest of the colonists then marched into the jungle, where they were killed by the natives.
The annexation of the Partido de Nicoya to Costa Rica is a historical event that refers to the incorporation of the territory of Nicoya to the State of Costa Rica, which occurred on July 25, 1824.
The huetares were an important indigenous group of Costa Rica, who in the mid-16th century lived in the center of what is now the country. They are also mentioned with the name of güetares or pacacuas. Huetares were the most powerful and best organized indigenous nation in Costa Rica upon the arrival of the Spaniards. During the 16th century, various chieftains dominated from the Costa Rican Pacific coast to the Atlantic Slope. The Spanish chronicles mention a myriad of towns and the kings that ruled them, among them the Garabito Empire, located on the Central Pacific Slope and the Tárcoles River basin, to the Virilla River and the Cordillera Central; the kingdom of Pacaca, in the current canton of Mora, and the Lordship of el El Guarco, in the current Guarco Valley, in the Cartago Province, to the plains of the Central Caribbean and Chirripó. Their culture belonged to the Intermediate Area, and it stood out mainly for their works in stone, such as metates, sculptures, tables and ceremonial altars; and the non-practice of anthropophagy or cannibalism. Its language, the Huetar language, one of the so-called Chibcha languages, became the Lingua franca of the country. Although this language is extinct, it survives in a large number of place names in Costa Rica such as Aserrí, Tucurrique or Barva.
El Guarco was a Costa Rican indigenous king, at the time of the Spanish conquest. Its name is preserved in the eastern sector of the Central Valley of Costa Rica, where the city of Cartago is located, and in a canton in the Cartago Province. Apparently his domains extended from the banks of the Virilla River to the Chirripó region in Tierra Adentro. It is possible that El Guarco was not a personal name, but the designation of its royal office, and that it meant "The Sentinel of Co". Some sources mention El Guarco as monarch of the so-called eastern huetares.