Captaincy General of Guatemala
Costa Rica, 1542–1821. Draft, not yet reviewed
It was an administrative division of the Spanish Empire, under the viceroyalty of New Spain in Central America. During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, nominally part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Costa Rica was described as "the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America" by a Spanish governor in 1719. The Captaincy General ended in 1821 with the signing of the Act of Independence of Central America.
Seat of power: Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala
Rulers
Carlos Luis de Urrutia
Captain General of Guatemala, 1818–1821
He was a Spanish military commander and colonial administrator. He was the supreme military commander of Guatemala from 1818 to 1821 and fled to Cuba when it declared independence.
Culture
- The name la costa rica, meaning "rich coast" in the Spanish language, was in some accounts first applied by Christopher Columbus, who sailed to the eastern shores of Costa Rica during his final voyage in 1502, and reported vast quantities of gold jewelry worn by natives.
- The city was founded in 1563 by Juan Vasquez de Coronado, and it was the first successful establishment in Costa Rica.
- Distance from Guatemala, a legal ban on trade with Panama and a lack of gold and silver made Costa Rica a poor, isolated and sparsely inhabited region within the Spanish Empire.
Picture
This city was the capital of Costa Rica from 1574 to 1824.
Image: Magalhães, Public domain, file
Sources
- Captaincy General of Guatemala (Wikipedia)
- Captaincy General of Guatemala (Wikidata)
- About the picture (Wikipedia)
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.