Carlos Meléndez Chaverri (23 June 1926 – 12 June 2000) was a Costa Rican historian. Meléndez was the son of Saturnino Lizano and Chaverri Orfilia Chacon. He married María Lourdes Doubles Umaña, who bore him five children: Silvia María, Lucia, Diego, Alberto and Pablo Meléndez Doubles. He won the

Magón National Prize for Culture The Magón National Prize for Culture ''(Premio Nacional de Cultura Magón)'' is an award given by the government of Costa Rica, through its Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Sport, to a Costa Rican citizen in recognition of their life's work in the ...

in 1993.

Education

He began his primary studies at the Escuela

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and continued them at the Central School of Puntarenas. His father Don Saturnino moved the Meléndez family then moved to Limon, where he finished his primary education at the School Tomás Guardia. After spending a year in that province, the family returned to Hall where he entered the Ecole Normale de Costa Rica, being a student of renowned professors such as Fernando Vargas Fernández Gámez Solano Uladislaus "Don Lalo" and Marco Tulio Salazar Salazar. On 13 December 1946, Carlos Meléndez concluded secondary education, having passed exams in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. He earned a BA in

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

with a major in History and Geography in 1952 at the University of Costa Rica

Work

His first job was at the Normal School (later Liceo de Heredia) between the years 1948 to 1953. He was founding director of the Liceo Nocturno Alfredo González F. Heredia, a post he held from 1953 to 1960. In those same years he was Head of the Section of

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

and History National Museum of Costa Rica. He joined as a professor at the University of Costa Rica since 1958 and in 1960 became a full professor along with Sam Parr. He was Director of the Department of History and Geography (now School of the Faculty of Social Sciences), University of Costa Rica between 1960 and 1969. His biggest title was the Professor. She worked there until 1986 when it was pensioned. He was Ambassador to Costa Rica in Spain from 1985 to 1986.

Foreign studies

Historical research conducted in 1965 in

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

, with a grant from the OAS in 1973 and lived in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

as the scholarship, for research in the Archivo de Indias in Seville, the Historical Archive and the

National Academy of History The National Academy of the History of Venezuela is an institution dedicated to the study and promotion of the history of Venezuela. Specifically, the objective is the collection of bibliographic, newspaper, audiovisual or other documentation to lo ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. With

Quince Duncan Quince Duncan was born in 1940 in San José, Costa Rica. He is regarded as Costa Rica's first Afro-Caribbean writer in the Spanish language. His works typically concern the Afro-caribbean population living on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, part ...

he wrote that the life of enslaved woman Ana Cardoso was one that was common, but often unrecorded, and a significant contributor to the development of Costa Rican society.

References

1926 births 2000 deaths People from Heredia Province Costa Rican historians Ambassadors of Costa Rica to Spain 20th-century historians 20th-century Costa Rican writers {{CostaRica-politician-stub