Costa Rican History Timeline & FactsSouth America - Concise History of the Mesoamerican civilisations Mesoamericans were the ancient civilisations of South America which is now divided into 12 independent countries consisting of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela Costa Rica was also part of the Mesoamerica cultural area Click the following link for details of the ancient South American / Mesoamerican Civilisations History Timeline & Facts Concise Costa Rican History & Timeline September 18, 1502 - Christopher Columbus visits the area and names it Costa Rica (translates as Rich Coast) The indigenous tribes living in Costa Rica were the Caribs, Borucas, Chibchas, and Diquis 1561 - Spain's Juan de Cavallon leads the first successful Costa Rican colonisers The Caribs were progressively wiped out by the after-effects of the Spanish Costa Rican conquest The Spanish were continuously harassed by the native Caribs and by pirates and buccaneers who attacked the Spanish galleons which were carrying riches back to Spain 1776 Spain encompassed all of its territories in south-east South America to create one large colony called the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata 1808 - Coffee is introduced into Costa Rica from Cuba and becomes the principal Costa Rican crop 1810 - Overthrow of the king of Spain by Napoleon 1821 - Central America gains independence from Spain 1823 - Costa Rica joins the United Provinces of Central America ( El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) 1838 - Costa Rica becomes fully independent 1949 - New constitution gives Costa Rican women and people of African descent the right to vote. Click the following link for details of the ancient South American / Mesoamerican Civilisations History Timeline & Facts Costa Rican History Time line |