The first indigenous peoples of Costa Rica were hunters and gatherers, and when the Spanish conquerors arrived, Costa Rica was divided into two distinct cultural areas due to its geographical location in the Intermediate Area, between Mesoamerican and the Andean cultures, with influences of both cultures.
The Complete History of Costa Rica 🇨🇷, https://youtu.be/VE99DWl_Sfc. Between 1594 and 1749, barely eight attempts to open schools in Costa Rica are known. During this long period, the more affluent families hired tutors to teach their sons and probably their daughters to read as well. Until the middle of the 18th century, access to school was essentially limited to the children of the wealthy of the time, since it was the parents who had to pay the teacher.
Unlike Latin America, where the dominant groups were white elites whose income depended on the exploitation of indigenous labor or black slave labor, in Costa Rica the fundamental social differentiation was based on the unequal position that, in terms of their relationship with the market, they had peasants, artisans, and merchants. In addition, these three groups tended towards ethnic homogeneity based on miscegenation and they shared a common culture, with Spanish and Catholic roots, which manifested itself in the extension of marriage, the decline in illegitimacy, and shared beliefs and values regarding everyday life, the supernatural, the afterlife and other such matters.
On the eve of becoming independent from Spain, in 1821, Costa Rica was a poor and marginal territory of the Spanish empire in America. More than 80 percent of the population of some 60,000 people resided in the reduced territory that extends between the contours of the cities of Cartago and Alajuela. In the Caribbean, particularly in Matina, cocoa farms persisted, some exploited by slave labor, the last remnants of the cocoa boom experienced at the end of the 18th century. In the central and northern Pacific, there were vast cattle ranches, within whose imprecise boundaries subsisted a peasantry that combined subsistence farming with hunting and fishing, and occasional work for the ranchers. And on the northern and southern borders, indigenous communities were settled that managed to escape Spanish rule during the colonial era.
Although Costa Rica experienced some brief internal conflicts between 1821 and 1849, it managed to exempt itself from the long, drawn-out civil wars that were the norm in other Latin American countries. After the battle of Ochomogo in 1823, which pitted San José and Alajuela against Heredia and Cartago, San José became the new capital of Costa Rica and the seat of the new State, which began a process of centralization of power that it tended to be accentuated during the Carrillo and Guardia dictatorships.
In the Central Valley, production, mainly agricultural, was dominated by a peasantry with unequal access to land ownership, technology, and livestock. The richest generally owned their own land, owned sugar mills and mills, which was the most expensive agricultural technology of the time, and had abundant livestock. In contrast, the poorest had to farm communal land, had few tools and domestic animals, and were occasionally employed by the more prosperous farmers. Between one extreme and the other, there was a wide group of small and medium agricultural producers, whose work was based on family labor.
Thanks to the cultivation of virgin lands, the Central Valley experienced significant economic growth, based on the expansion of peasant production. The main beneficiaries of this boom were merchants who, thanks to their domination of foreign trade and cash, established an unequal exchange relationship with peasants and artisans: they bought the agricultural, livestock, and artisan surplus cheap, which they exported to the rest of Central America and Panama, and they sold expensive foreign goods, especially textiles, which they imported. Such merchants generally also held civil, military, and ecclesiastical offices, and owned cocoa and cattle ranches, and ships.
This trend was reinforced by the expansion of coffee, beginning in the 1830s. With the cultivation of this product, the country consolidated its insertion into the world market and underwent a decisive transformation: the emergence of agrarian capitalism.
Unlike other Latin American experiences, the Costa Rican case did not imply the massive expropriation of the peasantry or the emergence of a labor market based on paltry wages. The existence of abundant virgin lands meant that the process of agricultural colonization, which began in the 18th century, continued through the 19th century, with which peasant farms had enough room to multiply. On the other hand, the possibility of colonizing a large sector of the peasantry, in a context of demographic scarcity, systematically raised the wages of laborers, an increase that was favored by the demographic crisis of 1856 caused by a cholera plague, which wiped out 10 percent of the population.
The economic growth that began in the 18th century, and deepened from 1830 onwards with coffee, was an inclusive process, in which the majority of social groups managed to insert themselves, either through specialization in coffee production, agricultural colonization, or wages. ascendants. One of the greatest differences experienced by society at this time was cultural: while peasants and artisans remained faithful to Catholic-based colonial identities, the middle and wealthy sectors of the cities, particularly the Josephites, tended to become secularized and Europeanized. Such cultural tension, already evident in the 1840s, would deepen in the following decades and would have to wait until the end of the 19th century for its partial resolution.
The Constitution of Cádiz approved on March 19, 1812, the festivity of San José, known for this reason as La Pepa, is the first properly Spanish Constitution, since the Bayonne Statute of 1808 did not cease to be a "Charter granted" marked by the Napoleonic seal.
In the two years after the approval of the Cadiz Constitution, around 35 schools were created in Costa Rica, all for boys. This figure contrasts sharply with the 13 attempts to found schools between 1750 and 1799, and with the twelve attempts of the same type between 1800 and 1811.
The context of the first school expansion was an early interest in expanding access to primary education. By 1827, about 55 percent of children between the ages of seven and twelve were attending school. This figure suggests that access to education tended to extend to the children of prosperous peasant and artisan families and that a probably small proportion of children from poor homes also achieved some degree of literacy.
Unlike Latin America, where the dominant groups were white elites whose income depended on the exploitation of indigenous labor or black slave labor, in Costa Rica the fundamental social differentiation was based on the unequal position that, in terms of their relationship with the market, they had peasants, artisans, and merchants. In addition, these three groups tended towards ethnic homogeneity based on miscegenation and they shared a common culture, with Spanish and Catholic roots, which manifested itself in the extension of marriage, the decline in illegitimacy, and shared beliefs and values regarding everyday life, the supernatural, the afterlife and other such matters.
On the eve of becoming independent from Spain, in 1821, Costa Rica was a poor and marginal territory of the Spanish empire in America. More than 80 percent of the population of some 60,000 people resided in the reduced territory that extends between the contours of the cities of Cartago and Alajuela. In the Caribbean, particularly in Matina, cocoa farms persisted, some exploited by slave labor, the last remnants of the cocoa boom experienced at the end of the 18th century. In the central and northern Pacific, there were vast cattle ranches, within whose imprecise boundaries subsisted a peasantry that combined subsistence farming with hunting and fishing, and occasional work for the ranchers. And on the northern and southern borders, indigenous communities were settled that managed to escape Spanish rule during the colonial era.
Although Costa Rica experienced some brief internal conflicts between 1821 and 1849, it managed to exempt itself from the long, drawn-out civil wars that were the norm in other Latin American countries. After the battle of Ochomogo in 1823, which pitted San José and Alajuela against Heredia and Cartago, San José became the new capital of Costa Rica and the seat of the new State, which began a process of centralization of power that it tended to be accentuated during the Carrillo and Guardia dictatorships.
In the Central Valley, production, mainly agricultural, was dominated by a peasantry with unequal access to land ownership, technology, and livestock. The richest generally owned their own land, owned sugar mills and mills, which was the most expensive agricultural technology of the time, and had abundant livestock. In contrast, the poorest had to farm communal land, had few tools and domestic animals, and were occasionally employed by the more prosperous farmers. Between one extreme and the other, there was a wide group of small and medium agricultural producers, whose work was based on family labor.
Thanks to the cultivation of virgin lands, the Central Valley experienced significant economic growth, based on the expansion of peasant production. The main beneficiaries of this boom were merchants who, thanks to their domination of foreign trade and cash, established an unequal exchange relationship with peasants and artisans: they bought the agricultural, livestock, and artisan surplus cheap, which they exported to the rest of Central America and Panama, and they sold expensive foreign goods, especially textiles, which they imported. Such merchants generally also held civil, military, and ecclesiastical offices, and owned cocoa and cattle ranches, and ships.
This trend was reinforced by the expansion of coffee, beginning in the 1830s. With the cultivation of this product, the country consolidated its insertion into the world market and underwent a decisive transformation: the emergence of agrarian capitalism.
Unlike other Latin American experiences, the Costa Rican case did not imply the massive expropriation of the peasantry or the emergence of a labor market based on paltry wages. The existence of abundant virgin lands meant that the process of agricultural colonization, which began in the 18th century, continued through the 19th century, with which peasant farms had enough room to multiply. On the other hand, the possibility of colonizing a large sector of the peasantry, in a context of demographic scarcity, systematically raised the wages of laborers, an increase that was favored by the demographic crisis of 1856 caused by a cholera plague, which wiped out 10 percent of the population.
The economic growth that began in the 18th century, and deepened from 1830 onwards with coffee, was an inclusive process, in which the majority of social groups managed to insert themselves, either through specialization in coffee production, agricultural colonization, or wages. ascendants. One of the greatest differences experienced by society at this time was cultural: while peasants and artisans remained faithful to Catholic-based colonial identities, the middle and wealthy sectors of the cities, particularly the Josephites, tended to become secularized and Europeanized. Such cultural tension, already evident in the 1840s, would deepen in the following decades and would have to wait until the end of the 19th century for its partial resolution.
The Constitution of Cádiz approved on March 19, 1812, the festivity of San José, known for this reason as La Pepa, is the first properly Spanish Constitution, since the Bayonne Statute of 1808 did not cease to be a "Charter granted" marked by the Napoleonic seal.
In the two years after the approval of the Cadiz Constitution, around 35 schools were created in Costa Rica, all for boys. This figure contrasts sharply with the 13 attempts to found schools between 1750 and 1799, and with the twelve attempts of the same type between 1800 and 1811.
The context of the first school expansion was an early interest in expanding access to primary education. By 1827, about 55 percent of children between the ages of seven and twelve were attending school. This figure suggests that access to education tended to extend to the children of prosperous peasant and artisan families and that a probably small proportion of children from poor homes also achieved some degree of literacy.
The experiences to establish secondary studies outside of San José failed. The Casa de Enseñanza de Santo Tomás, despite its permanence, had a very limited performance, since its first class of bachelors in philosophy, made up of just five people, graduated in January 1839. The upward trend in graduations between the 1860s and 1870s may have been favored by an initial expansion of secondary education that began in the 1860s and intensified in the 1870s.
Between 1845 and 1884, 24 schools were founded: 19 for men and 5 for women, 20 secular and 4 religious, 14 established in San José and the rest in the cities of Alajuela, Cartago, and Heredia. Most of these establishments combined primary and secondary education (20), were private (19), and were short-lived: ten remained open for one year or less, and five more schools operated for a maximum of three years. Of the private schools, ten received some type of subsidy from the central government (3), from the municipalities (5), or both (2).
Before the educational reform of 1886, the main losers were rural families and not just the poor. In contrast, the sons of families settled in the main cities, capitals of the provinces, and the main towns of the canton, including a proportion from low-income homes, had more chances of achieving some education. Very different was the case of the girls, whose first known school was opened in 1841 in San José.
Still, in 1872, it is very likely that it was almost exclusively the daughters of wealthy families who could be educated, and that it was not until the course of the following ten years that girls from other social sectors began to have access to school.
Before the educational reform of 1886, the main losers were rural families and not just the poor. In contrast, the sons of families settled in the main cities, capitals of the provinces, and the main towns of the canton, including a proportion from low-income homes, had more chances of achieving some education. Very different was the case of the girls, whose first known school was opened in 1841 in San José.
Still, in 1872, it is very likely that it was almost exclusively the daughters of wealthy families who could be educated, and that it was not until the course of the following ten years that girls from other social sectors began to have access to school.
The five main schools open in the indicated period were the Liceo de Niñas, established in San José in 1849 and which remained open until 1856, which had a normalist character, since it prepared primary school teachers. The San Luis Gonzaga, which opened in Cartago, in 1869, became the most important school in the country until 1875, both for its academic training, and because it offered application studies in languages, bookkeeping, music, and drawing. topographical and artistic. Adult night schools are mentioned for the first time in the Primary Education Regulations of 1869.
Equally relevant was the National Institute, which opened in San José in 1874 and was financed with funds from the University of Santo Tomás. Said Institute, privatized in 1879, was converted again into a state one in 1883, but it was closed shortly after this change due to a lack of resources. Technical careers were offered, such as commercial expert and surveyor.
The last two schools The Seminary, founded in 1878 for the preparation of priests, was the culmination of a long aspiration, existing since the colonial period, to achieve that Costa Rica could train its ecclesiastics. This college soon began to admit young men not interested in the priesthood to carry out their secondary education in such an institution. In turn, the University Institute opened in 1884 and the successor to the Nacional included a preparatory section, of an academic nature, and a special one, which offered the careers of commercial expert and agronomist, surveyor, and master builder. Due to the above, the Institute could be considered the first technical and para-university college in the country.
In the 1870s a new educational expansion began, which led to the number of schools and students multiplying practically by three, a process during which access to education for women underwent a decisive advance. This increase, which was associated with institutional changes related to the municipal regime, is of particular importance because it shows that the educational reform of 1886 was preceded by an unprecedented expansion of the school system.
In the 1870s a new educational expansion began, which led to the number of schools and students multiplying practically by three, a process during which access to education for women underwent a decisive advance. This increase, which was associated with institutional changes related to the municipal regime, is of particular importance because it shows that the educational reform of 1886 was preceded by an unprecedented expansion of the school system.
In 1885, of the 15,724 boys and girls who attended school, 13.9 percent attended private establishments. At the beginning of the 1870s, the writer and educator Carlos Gagini learned to read in a short time, and when he finished learning the primer, his teacher placed said text "...on a large tray full of sweets and flowers..." His teacher, an owner of a private school, was none other than Mercedes Acuña Diez Dobles, the mother of Mauro Fernández Acuña, the promoter of the educational reform of 1886.
Of the students who studied abroad, it is worth highlighting Antonio de Liendo y Goicoechea (1735-1814), he was born on May 3, in the city of Cartago in the then province of Costa Rica of the kingdom of Guatemala in the Spanish Empire, who introduced experimental philosophy at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala; Florencio del Castillo (October 17, 1778 – November 26, 1834) was a cleric and politician. Nationality: Spanish (1778-1821); First Mexican Empire (1821-1823); Federal Republic of Central America (1823-1834), deputy for Costa Rica in the Cortes of Cádiz, where he had very prominent participation, which earned him later appointment as bishop of Oaxaca; and José María Zamora y Coronado, he was born on 16 July 1785, in Cartago, Cartago, Costa Rica who graduated as a lawyer and, in 1809, emigrated to Spain, where he held a high position and published a famous Overseas Legislation Library, https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/dialogos/article/view/18349/18539.
José María Zamora y Coronado's cousin's 4th great grandson is Rafael Alberto Vilagut-Vega. José María Zamora y Coronado father José Romualdo Zamora Flores brother Mariano Zamora son José A. Zamora daughter Josefa I. Zamora daughter Juana Camacho-Zamora daughter María Manuela Arias-Camacho daughter Angelica Rodriguez-Arias daughter Nydia M. Vega-Rodriguez son Rafael Alberto Vilagut-Vega.
Costa Rica Online Genealogy Records are genealogy links to Costa Rica databases to help you research your family history. This collection consists of links to online databases and indices that may include birth, marriage, and death records, biographies, cemeteries, censuses, histories, immigration records, real estate ownership records, military records, newspapers, obituaries, or probate records. San José, Costa Rica, Monday, January 30, 2023, rafaelvilagut@gmail.com Rafael A. Vilagut-Vega, is an engineer and magister, and since recent years historian, writer, and professional genealogist.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario