Why go
Look beyond the familiar coffee story. Guayabo and the Diquís stone spheres point to societies that preceded Spanish rule, while the Central Plateau's coffee landscape and the route to Limón show how export trade reshaped the country. These connections give archaeological sites and transport corridors a clearer context.
The full story
Human communities lived in what is now Costa Rica long before Spanish colonization. Farming and pottery developed in different parts of the territory, and Indigenous cultures left material traces that visitors can still connect to places such as Guayabo and the Diquís region. The Bribri and Boruca remain part of the country's living Indigenous history, especially in the south; they should not be treated only as figures from the past. Under Spanish rule, Costa Rica formed the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. In the nineteenth century, coffee grown around the Central Plateau became a major export. Oxcarts carried it to the Pacific port of Puntarenas. Trade with Europe then drove a search for a Caribbean route, and a railway to Limón was completed in 1890. That shift helps explain why the Central Valley, Puntarenas and Limón appear together in the country's economic and transport history.