indigenous territories

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Indigenous people represent 2.5% of the population according to data compiled by INEC. There are eight recognized native ethnic groups in Costa Rica: Bribris, Cabecares, Guaimies, Malekus, Borucas, Terrabas, Huetares and Chorotegas, distributed in 22 autonomous territories. Indigenous people generally stay close to their communities and few leave them, except for study and training, so their interaction with the rest of the country is quite limited. A complex problem that has not been addressed by the government or satisfactorily resolved is the presence of non-indigenous settlers in their territories or in diffuse borders that have not been relocated by the authorities.

When the Spaniards arrived in the American continent, the original inhabitants of what is now Costa Rica numbered some 400,000 people, scattered in different regions of the country and occupying a large part of its territory. These populations were organized politically and economically in cacicazgos, which were complex and socially hierarchical structures, with work specializations, governed by a cacique, his group of principals and the priestly class.

The Chorotegas, of Mesoamerican culture, occupied Guanacaste, with the Nicoya Kingdom as the most important chiefdom. The Cañas area was the seat of the Corobicíes, from which the current Guatusos descend. Belonging to the Intermediate Area culture, the Huetars were the most important group in the central region and the Pacific slope of the country. The Huetars formed two great lordships: that of Garabito or Huetar Kingdom of the West, and that of El Guarco or Huetar Kingdom of the East. Among the Huetars there were other minor chiefdoms such as Pacaca, Aserrí, Curriravá and Toyopán. In the northern plains, the Botos, Tises and Katapas inhabited. In the Atlantic zone, the most important chiefdom was Talamanca, which grouped bribris, cabécares and térrabas, while Tariaca, Suerre and Pococí were other minor chiefdoms. In the southern part of the country, the quepoas, borucas, cotos and guaimíes inhabited. After the conquest of Costa Rica, the indigenous population suffered a drastic demographic decrease, so that by colonial times only 10% of the population was indigenous.