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Dateline
13,000 B.C. Earliest record of human inhabitants in Costa Rica.
1000 B.C. Olmec people from Mexico arrive in Costa Rica searching for rare blue jade.
1502 Columbus lands in Costa Rica in September, at what is now Limón.
1563 City of Cartago is founded in the Central Valley.
1737 San José is founded.
Late 1700s Coffee is introduced as a cash crop.
1821 On September 15, Costa Rica, with the rest of Central America, gains independence from Spain.
1823 San José is named the capital. The decision is disputed and isn't officially settled until 1835.
1848 Costa Rica is proclaimed an independent republic.
1856 Battle of Santa Rosa: Costa Ricans defeat the United States, which backed proslavery advocate William Walker.
1870s First banana plantations are established.
1889 First election is won by an opposition party, establishing democratic process in Costa Rica.
1899 The United Fruit Company is founded by railroad builder Minor Keith.
1941 Costa Rica's social security and health system is instituted by President Rafael Angel Calderón.
1948 After aborted revolution and short civil war, the Costa Rican army is abolished.
1949 Women and blacks are given the right to vote.
1963 Cabo Blanco Reserve becomes Costa Rica's first national park.
1987 President Oscar Arias Sánchez is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for orchestrating the Central American Peace Plan.
1994 President Rafael Angel Calderón hands over the reigns of government to José María Figueres, in a peaceful replay of their fathers' less amenable and democratic transfer of power in 1948.
2002 For the first time in history, the presidential elections are forced into a second-round runoff. Abel Pachecho of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC) emerges as the winner.
2004 An aggressive public prosecutor and national press expose massive governmental scandals, landing two former presidents in jail and leaving another on the lam.
2006 In an intensely close election, Oscar Arias Sánchez is elected President. However, more importantly, the new upstart Citizen's Action Party has forever changed the face of the country's long-standing bi-party system.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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