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, which
was 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 to 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 a 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 the book,
"Antarctic France Singularities", which depicted
the 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 that
strived 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. corporate plunderer, who took
over
Nicaragua
in 1855.
After a bloodless coup, they ousted Mora in 1859,
liberal
domination followed,
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. corporate plunderer,
"Minor Keith",
whose
agricultural company, later became the United Fruit
Company in
1899.
The United Fruit Company... built roads and transport
systems for its company, developing the lowland
coasts.
They built
railroads and other communication towers,
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 to1974.
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
prove to be very damaging for the government, economy
and to the
people of Costa Rica.
It will be raising costs for farmers, and make it difficult for
them to sell their goods locally and internationally, it will
raise the cost of food and gasoline and also utilities,
drugs and medical health care.
It will also open up a huge Corporate Plundering of
Costa Rica's land, real estate, water, and natural
resources.
Many of Costa Rica's economic problems stem
from
"forced dependency" on foreign governments...
who
want to control and take over the Natural
Resources
of
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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