| Long before the arrival
of Spanish settlers, the
Indians of Costa Rica planted tobacco... and
they would barter tobacco in exchange for new things brought in... by the Spanish
Explorers. As indicated by the first Spaniards who settled in
Cartago, which was
the capital of the
province...
at the time.
Over Volcano Irazu's terracing slopes, native
Indian
villagers
from Churuca... traded tobacco and cigars (istepeques), around the
region.
They were called Chircagres, (Churuca's inhabitants),
and names of tobacco traders... were assimilated to the merchandise...
that is,
domestic tobacco was named "Chircagres".
According to the descriptions, this
"Chircagres" tobacco,
of the
Shaman Indian origin... was the variety of "Nicotiana Rustica": white flowers, round leaves and
high nicotine concentration.
It seemed that domestic variety was mixed first
and then replaced
little by little... by smoother tobacco varieties whose seeds... were
brought by
Spanish
and Portuguese people, who traded with Central
American colonies.
The almost legendary history... reported by historians
in 1502, is
confirmed by religious writings... that were
the real artisans... of the development of the tobacco plantations... in
this region of Costa Rica, which were administratively, part of the
Spanish properties in
Guatemala... at the time.
Yet, for more than two centuries, church lands were
dedicated to this plant... and monks, at first, had
monopoly of tobacco trading.
Tobacco... is a plant from the Solanaceae family,
native to the New
World
ranged under: Nicotiana: N. Rustica to the north and in
Central America, N. tabacum in South America.
This Genus... includes around 60 Shaman Species...
created by the Rainforest Shamans... who
communicated
with dimensional higher realms... to learn the
knowledge of cultivating... tobacco plants and
leaves.
In addition to tobacco, the Rainforest Shamans... had knowledge of
all the medicinal plants and trees... of the Rainforests of Costa Rica.
Some medicines... are just being "re-discovered" today...
with the
help of the Rainforest Shamans.
Since the end of the15th Century, just after Europeans discovered
the
American continent, historian Ramon
Pane... described the
customs of Taino Indians...
that lived at the Hispaniola (Haiti):
During religious ceremonies, Indian chiefs and
Shamans... used to intoxicate themselves... with a hallucinogenic
dust... from cohoba Piptadenia
peregrina - Mimosae, mixed with juice from tobacco
leaves.
They collapsed or fell into a trance and were able to communicate
with the
spirits and dimensional worlds.
Nobody knows for sure... when the tobacco plant was
first cultivated,
but
there is little doubt about where,
in Mexico and Central America.
The "Tobacco Belt"
of the World!
It was certainly used... by the Maya
Shamans of
Central America,
and when the Maya civilization
was broken up, the scattered tribes... carried tobacco
both
southward... into South America, and to North
America, where it was probably first used... in the
rites... of the Southwestern Indians.
It didn't come to the attention... of the rest of the
world... until
Christopher Columbus's momentous
voyage of 1492.
Indians Smoked
Nicotiana Rustica
Native American Indians... from Chile to Canada,
grew a strong
tobacco with high content
of nicotine,
probably Nicotiana Rustica...
that is more likely
to
cause drunkenness and trance.
On the other hand, since 1520, Europeans started
to plant a milder tobacco,
more aromatic and with
little narcotic effects, for their own
use in Cuba,
Honduras and Costa Rica.
It was the Nicotiana tabacum, which turned
famous...
in this part of
the New World.
At this time, tobacco (from toback, name of the
empty stem wrapping...
dried leaves to be smoked),
had no botanical identity yet.
Introduction of Costa
Rican Tobacco
into Spain and France
In 1555, André THEVET, Franciscan Brother and
chaplain... of his
state, embarked on a galleon. Queen Catherine de
Médicis, gave
him the responsibility
to deport protestants... to colonize the new
colonies of "Antarctic France", located at the
Orinoco basin...
alongside Marañon (cashew's
name)
river.
He reported everything he saw in detail. Thus,
he said that: "Indians,
completely naked, smoked
a sort of herb... they called "petun".
Back home, he planted the mysterious plant... into
his Angoulême
garden and in 1556, he
wrote, "Antarctic France Singularities"
depicting weird customs... of the people he met.
However, he was an honest and educated man
with little influence...
at the court. Thus, his words
were doubted.
Tobacco was used in a tea
infusion... or chewed
as powder or
even smoked in cigars... "roll-made",
long as a candle", as
evidenced
by many bas-reliefs. From the Mayas, we took snuff,
from some tobacco
to powder.
The Magicians and the Shamans... used the
"sacred tobacco" to
enhance their powers... over the dimensional worlds.
Archaeologists have found... at Canadian Huron,
more than four
thousand different pipes... used by
Indians and
Shamans.
And Jacques Cartier, in 1535, has observed that the Iroquois Indians...
intoxicated themselves by smoking.
To the north, the Ohio-Hopewell,
(US), archaeological
site... has found pipes... shaped like metal
tubes.
Columbus himself... was not particularly impressed
by the custom,
but soon Spanish and other European
sailors fell for the intoxicating
ritual, followed by
the
conquistadores and colonists.
In due course... the returning conquistadores
introduced tobacco
smoking to Spain and Portugal. Jean Nicot de Villemain,
Ambassador of France in
Lisbonne... was a perfect man of the
court. In 1560,
he received some seeds...
of the same mysterious
plant coming from Florida, as a gift.
He planted them to decorate the embassy garden. The Portuguese climate.... did the rest and
"tobacco" grew.
His servants tasted it... on their way... in tea and by
smoking the
healing leaves... of the tobacco
and
assured... that the plant had a thousand
properties.
The Plant became quite popular... under the name of "ambassador's herb". Jean
Nicot, back to the court,
smartly relieved constant royal migraines...
with his
plant-based secret blend.
The smoking ritual, a sign of wealth... then spread to
France,
through
the French ambassador... to Portugal,
Jean
Nicot (who eventually
gave his name to
nicotine,
and Nicotiana tabacum, the Latin name...
for tobacco).
The word tobacco, some say, was a corruption of
Tobago, the name
of a Caribbean Island. Others
claim... it comes from the Tabasco
province of
Mexico.
Cohiba, was a word used, by the Taino Indians of Cuba
and was
thought to mean tobacco, but now is considered
to have referred
to cigars. The word cigar... originated from "sikar", the Mayan
word for smoking.
Jean Nicot... never traveled to America. But it did
not matter,
because 2 centuries later, he was only remembered for
having
discovered tobacco...
by naming the miraculous
herb:
Nicotiana tabacum.
Antarctic France... had been a short life colony.
History forgot...
André Thevet.
During the 15th century, plantations grew perfectly
well, both in the
Caribbean and Central America,
especially in Costa Rica, Cuba, Nicaragua
and
Honduras. They grew... and exported tobacco
worldwide.
Christopher Columbus
and his Son
In October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus reached Guanahami...
in the
Bahamas.
But who knows... that in 1502, precisely on October
9,
the same
brave sailor reached, for the first time...
the eastern
coast of what
he would call,
the "Rich Coast", that is "Costa Rica"!
Hernando Colón, son of the Admiral, in a book,
dedicated to his
father's
life, says that in 1502, while
his father was some cables
away... from the coast
he just discovered, he sent some lieutenants
to
meet the indigenous
people... that were observing them from the
coast.
Wishing to take notes, they took
feathers and paper...
and indigenous people ran away... because they
thought that these objects... would
put a spell
on them.
Christopher Columbus had
said
to
his son: " they were
the ones... that seemed like the
"Wizards" to us...
Because while Christian people...
got closer, they
threw a sort of
powder and with a sort of burner...
where they put the powder, they
did the necessary,
to send the smoke... towards Christian people"
Christopher Columbus and his people...
had just discovered tobacco and the pipe!
Some years later, in 1529, Gonzalo Fernández de
Oviedo y Valdés, explained how, while he attended
a party... offered by Cacique
Nambi, he observed the population... smoking
"a leaf rolled on
itself
and tied with three, thin "cabuya" threads".
From time to time... they placed into their mouth...
this
bunch of
leaves, thick as a finger, from the end
that was not burning and they
inhaled a little
of this smoke.
They upheld smoke... for a while and later
on, they
puffed it...
through mouth
and nose. Every
indigenous
people I mentioned...
smoked
that leaf... they called Yapoquete".
This is when the famous, Costa Rican Cigar...
entered into the
world
market, world history and literature.
History of Costa Rica
Human habitation of Costa Rica... dates from at
least 5000 BC,
but in comparison with the great
civilizations of
pre-Columbian
America... the Native
Indians of Costa Rica... were
neither
numerous
nor were they abused by civilized society.
When confronted... by Spanish soldiers and missionaries,
they
resisted violently. Those who did not succumb
to the epidemics...
that swept over the isthmus...
either died fighting or fled... to
secret and remote
areas of
the Rainforests and Volcanic Mountain
ranges.
The Colonial Period
Christopher Columbus sailed... along Costa Rica's
Caribbean
shore in 1502...
and gave it its name,
"rich coast".
Spanish conquest, however, came later... than in
most of the
rest
of Central America, delayed
by the hostility of the natives and the absence...
of any obvious gold.
After Juan de Cavallón... led the first successful
colonizers into
Costa Rica in 1561, Juan
Vásquez de Coronado... followed from
1562 to 1565,
with the
establishment of Cartago and other
settlements...
in the central valley,
where most of
the population
is still concentrated.
Within the kingdom of Guatemala, (in the viceroyalty
of Mexico,
called New Spain), from 1570 forward, Costa
Rica... was
principally a small dependency of
Nicaragua... throughout its
colonial period.
Such circumstances... as its remoteness from
Guatemala City
and its lack of any obvious gold...
allowed
Costa Rica to develop
with less direct
interference and regulation... than the other
provinces of Central America.
Costa Rica's relative obscurity... gave it some of
its unique
characteristics. The Europeans were
unable to subjugate a
sedentary native population,
nor could they afford to import
African
slaves, as
was done in areas of more apparent
commercial
agricultural or mining potential.
Costa Ricans... consequently turned to subsistence
farming...
on small land
grants, without the extremes
of wealth and poverty
that characterized so
much
of Latin America. Using their ancient, Shamanic Secrets
of Terrace
Farming and composting from the
dense,
rainforests near their farms.
Government and church officials were fewer than
in the centers of
authority and production. Thus,
Costa Rica played only a minor role
in the
kingdom of Guatemala, and it developed... to a large
degree
apart from
the mainstream of Latin
American
history.
It was first in the late 18th century, when Spanish
emphasis on
commercial agriculture... led to the
growth of tobacco... as a major
export,
that the
colony became of some importance... to the
Guatemalan authorities.
Nationhood
Tobacco exports... promoted the growth of a
more prosperous
society,
and Costa Ricans became prominent in the intellectual and political life
of
Central America... in the early 19th century.
When Spanish rule ended in 1821, the country
became part of
Mexico
until 1823, and then, part
of
the United Provinces of Central America, from
1824
to 1838. However, it avoided involvement in
the civil
wars... that
plagued the latter federation.
Costa Rican politics... reflected the liberal-conservative ideologies
found elsewhere in Latin America, with
the towns of Cartago,
San José,
Heredia, and Alajuela...
vying for leadership.
San José gained ascendancy, but the most important development
of the
mid-19th century... was the growth
of coffee... as the next,
major
export.
Costa Rica's "Richness" was found in the secrets
of its agricultural techniques and the bio-diversity
of the country. These two things... propelled Costa
Rica into the World Market!
Under the conservative dictatorship (1849-1859),
of J. Rafael
Mora, Costa Rica took the lead... in
organizing Central American resistance against
William Walker, the
U.S. adventurer... who took
over
Nicaragua in 1855.
After a bloodless coup... they ousted Mora in 1859,
liberal domination followed, notably,
under Tomás
Guardia. During his tenure, from 1870
to 1882, Costa Rica became
committed... to heavy foreign investment
in railroads
and other public improvements.
Then another agricultural specialty, bananas, gave
rise to the creation
of a Banana Empire here
in Costa
Rica... by the U.S. businessman
"Minor Keith",
which later became the United Fruit Company, in
1899.
United Fruit Company... developed the lowland
coasts and built
railroads and other communications,
using Costa
Rica government funds. Which also
made Costa Rica... more dependent on foreign
markets and the
World Bank.
Democracy and Stable Government
Although late 19th and early 20th century Costa
Rican politics...
had its
share of irregularities, the
clear trend was away from military solutions...
toward a more peaceful and democratic political
process.
Costa Ricans took pride... in having more teachers
than soldiers
and a higher standard of living...
than
any where else in Central
America.
Tobacco and Coffee... remained the mainstay of
the economy, but
a growing urban middle class...
began to challenge the political
control of the
"coffee
elite" with more modern political parties.
The reformist... National Republican Party (Partido Republicano
Nacional,
or PRN), won the presidency...
with León Cortes Castro
in 1936 and again in
1940... with Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia.
When the PRN attempted to continue in power...
after defeat in
1948, a new
political force, the National Liberation Party (Partido
de Liberación
Nacional, or PLN),
led by José Figueres Ferrer,
overthrew it and
became
the country's dominant party, a position
it
has since
retained.
Under moderate governments, Costa Rica became
Latin America's
most
democratic country. Figueres
served as president, from 1953
to 1958 and
again from 1970 to 1974.
The PLN won the presidency in 1974... with Daniel
Oduber, but
differences between him and Figueres,
along with economic
troubles, brought an opposition
coalition... headed by Rodrigo Carazo Odio, to
power in 1978.
Costa Rica experienced... rapid population
growth and consequent
strains on its economy...in the early 1980s.
The PLN returned to
power in 1982,
when
Luis Alberto
Monge Alvarez, was elected
president, he was
succeeded by
Oscar Arias
Sánchez, also of the
PLN,
in 1986.
During the late 1980s, Arias won consensus among
Central American
leaders... for a plan to bring peace
and stability to the region.
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier, son of former president Rafael
Calderón, won the
presidential election of
February 1990, running as
the candidate of the
Social Christian Unity Party.
In February 1994, José María Figueres Olsen, of the
PLN... was
elected
president. Figueres is the son of
former president, José
Figueres Ferrer.
In February 1998, conservative economist, Miguel
Angel Rodriguez,
of the
Social Christian Unity
Party, narrowly defeated José Miguel Corrales,
of the
ruling PLN... in a presidential election that
centered
on Costa Rica's
economic problems.
President Abel Pacheco... won
the election in 2002.
His presidency
was shadowed by many economic
scandals... and now we have
President Oscar Arias,
once again, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize,
who is
reforming the Costa Rica Government, and Costa Rica's
infrastructure to better serve
the people.
(Although his support of the United States "Cafta Agreement"
known as "TLC" here in Costa Rica... will be very damaging to the
people... raising prices on food and gas, and also utilities, as well
as a plundering... of Costa Rica's natural resources).
Many of Costa Rica's economic problems... stem
from "forced dependency" on foreign governments...
who want to take the Natural
Resources from
Costa Rica.
However, it is those Natural Resources and the
Agricultural
Secrets
of Costa Rica... that make
it so rich!
Using cancer causing chemical fertilizers and pesticides,
from large foreign countries, should be banned, to protect
the people and the rare Biodiversity environment of Costa Rica.
Growing organic... should be
the rule of the land.
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