Afro-descendants on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica (1700-1870): socio-spatial dynamics
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Keywords: Blacks geographies. cultural geography, cultural landscape, Costa Rica
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract
Authors:
Carlos Morera-Beita, National University of Costa Rica
Adam Bledsoe, University of Minnesota
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Abstract
During the last decades, new approaches have generated reinterpretations of social identity and its contribution to the cultural landscape of Costa Rica, breaking with the colonialist reading of the society-nature relationship. From this perspective, although the presence of Afro-descendants in the country dates to colonial times, it has been scarcely studied and it has focused on Afro-Antilleans who migrated to Limón after 1870. This research analyzes the presence of Afro-descendants in the Caribbean Coast of the country during the period from 1700 to 1870, from the perspective of socio-spatial dynamics. A literature review and field visits were carried out to identify two axes: the study area as part of the isthmic and insular Caribbean corridor and another as part of the political-administrative territory of Costa Rica. Afro-descendants (both enslaved and free) were the main actors in the cocoa cycle during the 17th and 18th centuries, due to: distance from Cartago, their relationship with local communities (indigenous, Zambos-Misquitos, English and other merchants). They not only dedicated themselves to maintaining cocoa crops, but to trade, which improved their economic condition and influenced their "creolization". The subsistence characteristics of the Afro-descendants who lived in river basins and in turtle hunting camps promoted the preservation of the natural heritage and the establishment of protected areas in the region.
Afro-descendants on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica (1700-1870): socio-spatial dynamics
Category
Paper Abstract