In the early years after Christopher Columbus landed in Costa Rica in 1502, the Central America isthmus was known within the Spanish Empire as Guatemala (which is much larger than the present-day country of Guatemala). In the 1520s, the territories of present-day Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras were contested by the Cortes who were already in Mexico, and the conquistadors from Panama. This rivalry led the Spanish king to establish a Captaincy General of Guatemala, to take charge of the entire region, which lasted until this larger region declared independence in 1821 and united with Mexico which had already become independent a few weeks earlier.
However, a year later, the whole Captaincy General of Guatemala left the Mexican union to form the Central American Federation, with the capital in Guatemala City, but eventually the five countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica) all went their separate way as independent nations in 1838.
Socially, Costa Rica since its existence under Spain had not attracted colonists who became a dominant landowning class. Generally, the landowners held relatively small plots of land and were relatively poor; the general population was ethnically homogeneous without the presence of a large exploited indigenous labour force (because most natives were killed by diseases brought in by the Europeans). Therefore, the country did not have extreme social inequalities caused by conspicuous class distinctions. This has helped to create a society that believes in and practices the principles of democracy and equality, and has been able to avoid the turmoil found in other countries in Latin America.
In 1899 Costa Rica held what was widely considered to be the first free and fair election. Since then, Costa Rica has held 14 presidential elections. In between, there were two disruptions to the democratic process: in 1917-19, the country was ruled by a dictator, and in 1948, General Jose Figueres led an uprising challenging the results of a presidential election which resulted in more than 2,000 deaths. The victorious junta drafted a constitution guaranteeing free elections with universal suffrage and the abolition of the military.
As a result, Costa Rica is the only country in the Americas that has abolished the military. Its current President Oscar Arias Sanchez was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for successfully bringing warring parties elsewhere in Central America to the negotiating table.
