Through history, Talamanca has been witness to numerous threats fights and heroic acts that have stopped many attempts to dominate and colonize it, The harshriess of the tropical forest, its climate and its abrupt mountains, along with a people firmly resolved not to be subdued, kept the Bribris and Cabecares faithful to their beliefs, their language and their customs.

Colonial Times

When in the year 1502 Christopher Columbus arrived on this coast in his fourth expedition to the Americas, the Tariaca tribe was the one that exercised domain over the Bribris, Cabecares, Terrabas and Guaymies.  The attempts of the newly arrived to colonize and to extract the supposed gold that awaited them in Talamanca, as well as their attempt to evangelize was fruitless due to the strong opposition from the indigenous tribes that, in the year 1709, udner the leadership of Pablo Presbere rose up in fight expelling them and liberating the natives confined in the missions.
Thus during colonial times the Spaniards showed little interest for the area of the Caribbean, given the difficult access from the Central Valley.

First Africans in Costa Rica

Starting in the XVII century colonist settled down in the Carribean coast, in the Matina area, and the cacao trade became the base of the local economy, an activity that would bring Limon another trade, the slave trade. Men and women were brought from Equatorial and Wester Africa, mainly from Congo and Angola, from the Bantu group. Others were Araras of the Dahomey Dingdom (Benin), Wolofes (Guinea), Mandinga (Gambia), Puras of Sudan and Ashanti of Ghana.
Subject to the hardest jobs the Africans always accompanied the Spaniards in the discovery of new territories and in the establishment of the first populations.  Little by little they won their freedom until the abolition of slavery in Central America in 1823 by that time a mix of the races had taken place already among Africans Indigenous and Caucaslan activating the links among the different ethnic groups.

Afro-Caribbeans And The Reilroad.

In the year 1872 construction of the railroad that would join San Jose would unite with the Caribbean coast of Limon, a project that would require a lot of manpower and physical resistance, so that it became necessary to recruit foreign manpower.
The first immigrants arrived from the Caribbean Honduras, Panama and Belize, but later on they would make it in larger numbers from Jamaica. On December 20, 1872 the first ship coming from Kingston arrived to the port of Limon, “Lizzie”, with 123 workers for the company. One year later there were 1000 the Jamaican workers, in their majority of Ashanti origin.

The relationship between the Afro-Caribbean and the State was incidental since returning to his or her land was in the mind of the Jamaican, maintaining a cultural connection with his or her country.  But when the railroad was concluded the financial crisis forced many to stay and to work in agriculture of subsistence setting in small parcels along the strong line.  Later the banana exploitation would arrive, work for which the Jamaicans were already habituated.  The Antilleans would form roots in a new land maintaining their Afro-British customs and marking a great difference with the rest of the country.

Foreign Companies In Talamanca

Arrival of International Companies transforming into banana properties the territories of lower Talamanca, and their plans to extract the natural resources of the region, forced the natives again to show their unconformity and to oppose the expropriation of their lands, causing another rebellion under the leadership of Antonio Saldaña, the last king of Talamanca, who died in 1910 poisoned under strange circumstances.  The spoliation attempts continued until 1977 when, under the indigenous law No 6162, the Indigenous Reservation of Talamanca were created together with the International Park La Amistad which conform the biggest extension of protected areas of the country.

Tourist Development.

At the end of the past XX century a new arrival of travelers and tourist takes place, mainly from Europe and the United States whom, attracted by the natural beauties and the tranquil form of life of their inhabitants, find their own earthly paradise here and settle opening small business, causing a new impulse in the local economy and creating what today is an important tourist infrastructure. A development that tries to go of hand in hand with the environment, with the ecological conscience of its residents that have seen that the wealth of this region doesn’t reside in the petroleum but in its rich biodiversity that together with the ethnic wealth of its people make Costa Rica’s Caribbean so special and unique.