Introduction

Although the originality of the Costa Rican case within the Latin American context has been noted for some time, there still exists no systematic study of migration during the period here under investigation. The most significant analyses that have been completed consider the phenomenon in the context of agricultural colonization in the “coffee century,” that is the period 1850– 1950, and certainly in no way exhaust such a complex and large issue. The explanation of migrations is, however, a fundamental element of any interpretation of the evolution of Costa Rican society during the last 150 years. It could not be otherwise in a society characterized by the existence of pioneering colonists for more than 200 years and which today confronts the very real problem of the closure of that same agricultural frontier.

In this study we shall examine migrations and the occupancy of land during the period 1700–1850, that is during the final phase of the colonial period and the beginnings of political independence. From a structural perspective this period is extensive enough to allow us to appreciate long- as well as short-term tendencies, it also presents sufficient elements of continuity to be considered a transition phase from a colonial to an agricultural export economy with strong links to the world market.

The absence of systematic studies on colonial migration is explained, at least in part, by the relative lack of appropriate sources. The censuses and nominal listings of this period never include information about the prior residence of the persons included, nor do the marriage records in the parish registers, a useful source for the last quarter of the nineteenth century.