Juan Mora Fernández (July 12, 1784 – November 16, 1854) was a Costa Rican teacher and principal who served as

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

's first elected head of state. He was considered a liberal and decided to move the capital from Cartago to

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which comprises the Puntarenas, Chacarita and El Roble districts. A ...

. Mora was elected as the first head of state in 1824 (provisional until 1825). He is remembered for instituting

land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

, and he followed a progressive course. As a consequence of his land reform structure, he inadvertently created an elite class of powerful

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

barons. Under his tenure he signed the Acta de Indepencia. The barons eventually overthrew one of his later successors,

José María Alfaro Zamora José María Alfaro Zamora (March 20, 1799 – June 12, 1856) was the Costa Rican Head of State between the periods of 1842 and 1844 as well as 1846 and 1847 and President of Costa Rica between May 1 and May 8, 1847. Early life and family ...

. From 1850 to 1854 he was Magistrate and President of the

Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica The Supreme Court of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Corte Suprema de Justicia de Costa Rica'') is the court of greater hierarchy of Law and Justice in Costa Rica. Established on 25 January 1825, the current president of the Supreme Court of Justice is ...

; he died shortly after he resigned. The first printing press arrived in Costa Rica under his tenure.

Biography

Juan Mora Fernàdez was born on July 12, 1788, in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital city, capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of San José Province. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Costa Rican Central Valley, Central Valley, wi ...

, to Mateo Mora Valverde and Lucia Encarnación Fernàndez. He attended his primary school in San José and studied

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

grammar and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

León, Nicaragua León () is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. Founded by the Spanish as Santiago de los Caballeros de León, it is the capital and largest city of León Department. , the municipality of León has an estimated population of ...

. He also became a teacher and a principal in a primary school in

Alajuela Alajuela () is a district in the Alajuela (canton), Alajuela canton of the Alajuela Province of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Alajuela canton, it is awarded the status of city. By virtue of being the city of the first canton of ...

. He became secretary at the city hall at San José, participated actively for the struggle of independence, joined the Junta Superior Gebernativa between 1821 and 1824. He also became a head of Congress and the Supreme Court of Justice.

References

External links

* 1784 births 1854 deaths People from San José, Costa Rica People from New Spain Presidents of Costa Rica Vice presidents of Costa Rica 19th-century Costa Rican people 18th-century Costa Rican people Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica judges Costa Rican liberals {{CostaRica-politician-stub