Spanish Costa Rican are people from Costa Rica with Spanish ancestry from both the conquerors of the colonial period as immigrants who arrived after independence and the

Central American Federation The Federal Republic of Central America ( es, República Federal de Centroamérica), originally named the United Provinces of Central America ( es, Provincias Unidas del Centro de América), and sometimes simply called Central America, in it ...

of disunion. Historically this part of the population was called

Criollo Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to: People * Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish race-based colonial caste system (the European descendants) Animals * Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South Ameri ...

and were privileged but did not have equal rights with the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...

, some of them were mixed with

Mestizos (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

. Approximately 16,482 Spanish citizens living in Costa Rica for 2009.

Immigration

The Spanish immigration began with the exploration of Hernán Ponce de León and Juan de Castañeda along the Pacific coast, soon after led to the native population of this region under Spanish control. Although a small number of colonists settled in Costa Rica because of the small number of Indians who inhabited the region. After independence, the governors were interested in populating the territories with white workers, preferably imported from Europe. After independence, the governors were interested in populating territories with

white people White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

workers, preferably brought from Europe, banana cultivation was attracting a lot of capital and labor for the construction of the railway to the Atlantic.

Catalan Immigration

In the early twentieth century many Spaniards used Costa Rica as a bridge to move to Panama attracted by the construction of the Canal. The events in Catalonia for the same dates Catalan prompted many to migrate to Costa Rica, becoming in a few years a thriving and influential Catalan colony that persists today. This colony, located in San Jose (Costa Rica) came to consist mainly of Catalan, followed by Gallegos, Asturian and Castilian. Currently the Catalans make up most of the community of Spaniards in Costa Rica.

Canarian Immigration

Some Canarians had already settled in Costa Rica, beginning in the 16th century; a Canarian from Lanzarote island, Jose Martinez, was among the first Spanish settlers to arrive in Costa Rica in the 16th century. But large-scale Canarian immigration took place in 1884, when over 8,000 Canarians emigrated to a small town when the Costa Rican government invited Canarian immigration to populate the uninhabited town.

migration flows

Costa Ricans of Spanish ancestry

The mark on the Spanish in Costa Rican society is very large so much ethnic and cultural, about 80% of the white population is overwhelmingly of Spanish origin, and 17% of the population is mestizo (Spanish with

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

). According to a genetic study called "Geographic Patterns of Genome Admixture in Latin American Mestizos" the most comprehensive study of mestizo populations of Latin America and published in 2008 in the journal PLoS Genetics, and in which participated the School of Biology,

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro M ...

, the average resident of the Central Valley of Costa Rica has 65% of European genes (42.5% Spaniards), 30%

and 5% African population.''PLOS Genetics'
Geographic Patterns of Genome Admixture in Latin American Mestizos
Retrieved on, 8 November 2014. In total the Spaniards contributed very largely on the genetics of Costa Ricans, being the Spanish and mestizo place greater weight in the nation (90%), other European (7%), Chinese, blacks and Arabs (2%) and communities Indians (1%).

Notable Spanish Costa Ricans

Notables Costa Ricans of Spanish descent or part Spaniard, we are taking into account those who have certain inherited Spanish blood (mestizos and lineal descendants), this inheritance are acquiring all generations of these, but now many Costa Rican Hispanics are mixed with Asians, descendants of other Europeans or with descendants of Africans. *

Juan Rafael Mora Porras Juan Rafael Mora Porras (8 February 1814, San José, Costa Rica – 30 September 1860) was President of Costa Rica from 1849 to 1859. Life and career He first assumed the presidency following the resignation of his younger brother, Miguel M ...

, former president * José Figueres Ferrer, "father of peaceful modern democracy", former president * Jorge Arroyo, playwright * Víctor Cañas, architect, former diplomat * Walter Flores, musician, director *

Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno Romualdo Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno (February 6, 1859 – January 4, 1945) served as president of Costa Rica on three occasions: 1910–1914, 1924–1928 and 1932–1936. He was one of the best known lawyers in Costa Rican history and a Univers ...

, liberal politic * Rafael Ángel García, artist, architect *

Federico Tinoco Granados General José Federico Alberto de Jesús Tinoco Granados (21 November 1868 – 7 September 1931) was a politician, soldier, and the Dictator of Costa Rica from 1917 to 1919. Biography Tinoco was born in 1868. On 5 June 1898 in San José, ...

, former president, army general * Aquileo J. Echeverría, politician, author, journalist * Juan Bernal Ponce, architect *

Tomás Povedano Tomás Povedano de Arcos ( Lucena, Spain, September 22, 1847 — San José, Costa Rica, February 29, 1943) was a Spanish painter, who spent much of his life in Costa Rica. Biography He studied painting in Málaga and Seville, a city where he wor ...

, painter

Spanish Associations in Costa Rica

The Spaniards apart from the genetic make Costa Ricans have contributed to the culture of Costa Rica as associations and cultural centers, most are in San Jose. * Embajada de España en Costa Rica. * Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social en Costa Rica. * Asociación Española de Beneficencia. * Casal Catalá. * Club Campestre Español. * Lar Gallego. * Comunidad Catalana de San José. * Centro Cultural de España en San José de Costa Rica. * Centro Asturiano de Costa Rica. * Hotel Centro Gallego. * Colegio Hispanocostarricense "Calasanz". * Oficina Técnica de Cooperación. * Barrio Escalante. * Plaza del Farolito. * Cooperación Educativa.

References

{{Spanish diaspora European diaspora in North America Ethnic groups in Costa Rica