Huetar people
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The Huetares were an important indigenous group of Costa Rica, who in the mid-16th century lived in the center of what is now the country. They are also mentioned with the name of güetares or pacacuas. Huetares were the most powerful and best-organized indigenous nation in Costa Rica upon the arrival of the
Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...
. During the 16th century, various chieftains dominated from the Costa Rican Atlantic coast to the Atlantic Slope. The Spanish chronicles mention a myriad of towns and the kings that ruled them, among them the
Garabito Empire The empire, domain or lordship of King Garabito was a vast territory controlled by Huetar King Garabito and that extended through most of the Central Valley of Costa Rica from the Virilla River (natural border with the also Huetar but smaller Se ...
, located on the Central Atlantic Slope and the Tárcoles River basin, to the Virilla River and the Cordillera Central; the Kingdom of Pacaca, in the current canton of Mora, and the Lordship of el El Guarco, in the current Guarco Valley, in the
Cartago Province Cartago (), which means Carthage in Spanish, is a province of central Costa Rica. It is one of the smallest provinces, however probably the richest of the Spanish Colonial era sites and traditions. Geography It is located in the central part ...
, to the plains of the Central Caribbean and Chirripó. Their culture belonged to the
Intermediate Area The Intermediate Area is an archaeological geographical area of the Americas that was defined in its clearest form by Gordon R. Willey in his 1971 book ''An Introduction to American Archaeology, Vol. 2: South America'' (Prentice Hall: Englewood ...
, and it stood out mainly for their works in stone, such as
metate A metate (or mealing stone) is a type or variety of quern, a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican cultures, metates are typically used by women who would grind nixtamalized maize and other organic ma ...
s,
sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
,
tables Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...
and ceremonial altars; and the non-practice of anthropophagy or
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
. Its language, the
Huetar language Huetar (Güetar) is an extinct Chibchan language of Costa Rica that was spoken by the Huetar people. It served as the '' lingua franca'' for precolonial peoples in central Costa Rica, and went extinct in the 17th century. Only a few words in the ...
, one of the so-called
Chibcha language Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca, Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/), or Muysca de Bogotá, was a language spoken by the Muisca people of the Muisca Confederation, one of the many Indigenous peoples in Colombia, indigenous List of pre-Columbian cultures, cultures of ...
s, became the
Lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
of the country. Although this language is extinct, it survives in a large number of place names in Costa Rica such as Aserrí,
Tucurrique Tucurrique is a district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, sev ...
or
Barva Barva is a Districts of Costa Rica, district of the Barva (canton), Barva canton, in the Heredia Province, Heredia province of Costa Rica. The city is known for having a nice mix of rural and metropolitan landscape. Toponymy The name comes from ...
. A small Huetar group has survived to modern times, composed of approximately 1000 individuals. They are located at the top of the
Quitirrisí Quitirrisí is a Districts of Costa Rica, district of the Mora (canton), Mora canton, in the San José Province, San José province of Costa Rica. The district itself includes the Huetar language, Huetar Indigenous territories of Costa Rica, i ...
Indigenous Reserve, on the road between the canton of Mora and Puriscal. There is another Huetar settlement in Zapatón, in the canton of Puriscal, both in the
San José Province San José () is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the central part of the country, and borders (clockwise beginning in the north) the provinces of Alajuela, Heredia, Limón, Cartago and Puntarenas. The provincial and national capital ...
. There are also scattered families in the area of Cerrito de
Quepos Quepos () is a districts of Costa Rica, district of the canton of Quepos (canton), Quepos, in the province of Puntarenas Province, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Toponymy The town is named for the native Quepo Indians who inhabited the place in the colo ...
and neighboring places. These individuals have lost their language, but still retain some of their traditional beliefs, crafts, cuisine and medicine. The name "huetares", as well as that of " chorotegas", is attributed to the Spanish conqueror
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (August 14781557), commonly known as Oviedo, was a Spanish soldier, historian, writer, botanist and colonist. Oviedo participated in the Spanish colonization of the West Indies, arriving in the first few year ...
, derived from the name of two chieftains: King Huetara, chief of Pacaca kingdom (now Tabarcia, east of Santiago de Puriscal) and Chorotega, chief of the area that occupied the Central Atlantic (territory that covered the plains of
Esparza Esparza is a Basque people, Basque surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Antonio Esparza (born 1962), Spanish cyclist *Audrey Esparza (born 1986), American actress *Carla Esparza (born 1987), American mixed martial artist *Carlos Es ...
and those of the Tivives River). It has not been determined exactly which
indigenous peoples of Costa Rica Indigenous people of Costa Rica, or Native Costa Ricans, are the people who lived in what is now Costa Rica prior to European and African contact and the descendants of those peoples. About 114,000 indigenous people live in the country, comprising ...
should be considered strictly as Huetares. The Huetar language seems to have been a lingua franca that was spoken or at least understood by most of the communities that inhabited the Costa Rican territory in the 16th century, especially in the Central Valley and the river basin Virilla and Grande de Tárcoles until its mouth in the Pacific. As common characteristics of these communities, it is worth mentioning relatively dispersed settlement patterns; agriculture based on corn, beans and other crops; great refinement in the work of objects in stone (metates, sculptures, tables and ceremonial altars, etc.), absence of anthropophagy, etc. However, there was no political unity between them, and rather there seems to have been a wide variety of relationships, ranging from subordination and alliance to enmity and warfare. Some of the main Huetar kingdoms seem to have been those of
King Garabito Garabito was an indigenous king of the Huetar ethnic group, who approximately between 1561 and 1574 was a monarch of the Western Huetar Kingdom and its surroundings, in the current territory of Costa Rica. A 1566 document indicates that in 1561 ...
, on the Pacific side; the kingdom of Pacaca, and the vast domains of
El Guarco El Guarco was a Costa Rican indigenous king, at the time of the Spanish conquest. Its name is preserved in the eastern sector of the Central Valley of Costa Rica, where the city of Cartago is located, in the El Guarco canton in the Cartago Prov ...
and
Correque Correque was an indigenous monarch of Costa Rica, king of the Eastern Huetares, who lived in the 16th century. He had several residences and resisted the Conquistadors for some time until he moved one of his courts from Ujarrás to Tucurrique to e ...
kings, which extended from the banks of the Virilla River to Chirripó.Stone, Doris: «Panorama costarricense en vísperas de la conquista española», en ''ANDE, Revista de la Asociación Nacional de Educadores'', n.º 48, pág. 39. San José, marzo de 1973.


Huetar Kingdoms

*
Western Huetar Kingdom The Western Huetar Kingdom, also called Lordship of Garabito, Kingdom of Garabito or Cacicazgo of Garabito, was an Amerindian nation located in Costa Rica. It was one of the two great indigenous kingdoms of the central part of the country, the ot ...
*
Eastern Huetar Kingdom The Eastern Huetar Kingdom, also known as Lordship of el Guarco, is one of the two great kingdoms in which the domain of the Huetar ethnic group was divided in the Central Valley of Costa Rica and at the time of the conquest the king was Correque ...
*
Garabito Empire The empire, domain or lordship of King Garabito was a vast territory controlled by Huetar King Garabito and that extended through most of the Central Valley of Costa Rica from the Virilla River (natural border with the also Huetar but smaller Se ...
* Kingdom of Pacaca * Toyopán


References

{{authority control Former monarchies of Costa Rica 16th century in Costa Rica Indigenous peoples in Costa Rica