Talamanca is a canton in the south of the Province of Limon, bordering Panama in the west and the south and the Caribbean sea in the east. There are not many regions left in Costa Rica where the concentration of indigenous people is high. Besides the Province of Guanacaste, the south part of the Province of Puntarenas, Talamanca are the few regions were indigenous people live in reserves. Talamanca is a mountainous, biological and agricultural rich region with protected areas such as the Parque International la Amistad and the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge. It is not well know that the Talamanca region has 9 out of the 12 tropical life zones and hosts and around 60% of Costa Rica’s biodiversity. The history of Talamanca goes back to pre-Columbian times when indigenous tribes lived on the coast en higher up in the mountains. Later they were driven away by the Cabecar and Bribri Indians, who moved in from South-America. Although the Spanish conquerors and settlers tried to drive the indigenous people away, they did not succeed. In the beginning of the 19th century afro-Caribbean people were the first foreigners to successfully create settlements on the coast in Cahuita, Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo. Somehow these settlements blended in with the indigenous population. The real problems for the indigenous people of Talamanca began when the banana companies around 1900 began to acquire large amounts of land to create their plantations. The indigenous people lived using a well balanced way of living from the land by taking only what they needed to survive. The economic change disturbed the balance that the Talamanca region always had. Furthermore it forced the indigenous people either to work for the banana companies, or move away to higher, remote grounds. Of course this had a devastating effect on the indigenous culture of Talamanca. After the banana crisis in the 1940’s a new threat came in the form of extensive lumbering and the development of cacao plantations. With the arrival of a cacao disease at the end of the 1970’s the region economic and social situation rapidly deteriorated. The growing popularity of the Caribbean as a tourist destination and the return of the banana companies in the last decades of the 20th century sealed the fate of the isolated indigenous population. Until today the canton of Talamanca is one of the poorest of the country. There are some positive developments though in the indigenous reserves for the Bribri, Cabecar and Kekoldi Indians. Their culture, handicraft and organic products such as chocolate and coffee experience a growing interest of the tourist and export industry. Nowadays tours a wide variety of interesting tours to discover the rich culture of Costa Rica’s native population are open to the public. Talamanca is a jewel that offers an unequaled natural beauty, the remains of a fascinating indigenous culture and the afro Caribbean lifestyle on the coast.