Costa Rica is colonized by the Spanish between the years of 1506 and 1562. Most books of Costa Rica history agree that the first and most significant encounter Costa Rica had with the old world dates to 1502, when Christopher Columbus arrived to Puerto Limon. Christopher Columbus was impressed by the quantity of gold decorations that the native that received him wore and decided to call this place Costa Rica which means rich coast. After his arrival, Costa Rica history says that the king of Spain, Ferdinand, sent Diego de Nicuesa in 1506 to colonize Costa Rica. After him came Gil Gonzalez Davila in 1522 and tried to colonize Costa Rica through the Golf of Nicoya. Costa Rica history texts state that these conquistadores not only faced impenetrable jungles from both the Pacific Coast and Caribbean Coast but also struggled against very fierce indigenous that fought them till the end to prevent being conquered, killed, and slaved. At the end the attempts of the first conquistadores to colonize Costa Rica failed. Costa Rica history tells us that it was not until 1562 when Juan Vasquez de Coronado arrived, that a permanent colony could be established. The first colony to be established according to the Costa Rica history records was Cartago in 1563.

At Cartago Spanish settlers found fertile soil and good climate. The downside of having built their colony so far from either the Caribbean Coast or the Pacific Coast was that they could not keep constant contact with Spain. Also, there were few indigenous around the area, thus making them lack a lot of workforce to develop their colony. According to many of the surviving records of Costa Rica history of this era, the Cartago Colony remained forgotten for the next century and a half, and it survived only because of the hard work of its settlers and the cooperation between all of them to remain alive. It was not until the 18th century that Costa Rica history starts to evolve and Spanish settlers start colonizing other parts of the Central Valley. Heredia is thus funded in 1706, San Jose in 1737, and Alajuela in 1782. Still, Costa Rica remained one of the poorest colonies of the strong Spanish empire.

Regarding the independence from Spanish control, Costa Rica history is bloodless. The news of the independence of the provinces of Central America (current Central America countries) from the Spanish Empire in 1821, arrived to Costa Rica about a month after it happened. For a short time Costa Rica became part of the Mexican empire and later became one of the Central American United Provinces, until 1848 when it became an independent republic. In 1824 the first head of state was elected, Juan Mora Fernandez, and governed until 1833. The most important decisions that he made that changed the course of the current Costa Rica history were promoting coffee exports and establishing the first public educational system for its habitants. Throughout the rest of the 19th century the coffee exports increased the economy of Costa Rica to a degree that it took the country out of its impoverishment.

From 1803 to 1840 an social elite of coffee plantation owners, also known as the coffee oligarchs, was established in Costa Rica thanks to the economical success that coffee exports had. From this time on, the quickly evolving Costa Rica history would be directed by this coffee oligarchy and all the heads of state and presidents were coffee oligarchs. Actually, prior to 1970, 75% of the presidents of Costa Rica come from three families that belonged to the coffee oligarchy and were also descendants of three original Spanish colonizers.

Another important event for Costa Rica history is the battle of Santa Rosa in 1856. This battle took place in the current Santa Rosa National Park when a group of filibusters from the US led by William Walker tried to take over Costa Rica. It was in the Hacienda Santa Rosa that a quick but bloody civil war took place with an improvised group of organized civilians that defeated the filibusters. This battle represents to the Costa Rica history the moment when the sovereignty of the country was fought for victoriously.

Throughout most of Costa Rica history the main governmental characteristic has been the struggle for presidential power between different coffee oligarchs families. Three of the most important presidents that changed dramatically the course of Costa Rica history were Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia and Jose Figueres Ferrer. During Guardia’s presidency important reforms for the protection of the citizens were established, such as worker’s right to organize, minimum wages, and social security. Jose Figueres Ferrer after organizing and won a civil war because of claimed fraud in the elections after Guardia, established an interim government and handed it later to the alleged winner of the elections in 1949. It was during this year that the actual constitution of Costa Rica was written, women and Afro-Costa Ricans were given the right to vote, successive presidential terms were banned, a neutral electoral tribunal was established to keep elections fair, and the armed forces were abolished.