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1821 Sep 15, A junta convened by the captain-general in Guatemala declared independence for its provinces Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua San Salvador and Chiappas.
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1823 Jul 1, The United Provinces of Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and San Salvador) gained independence from Mexico. The union dissolved by 1840.
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1824 Jul 25, Costa Rica gained Guanacaste province from Nicaragua as the town people of Nicoya and Santa Cruz decided to join Costa Rica. In 2013 Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega warned Costa Rica that he may ask the International Court of Justice to restore to Managua the province he said it lost to "occupation."
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1839-1840 The Liberals of the United Provinces of Central America under leader Francisco Morazan were defeated in a civil war led by Rafael Carrera. The confederation dissolved into its 4 component states: El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
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1856 Apr 11, Battle of Rivas; Costa Rica beat William Walker's invading Nicaraguans.
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1857 May 1, William Walker, conqueror of Nicaragua, surrendered to the US Navy. Cornelius Vanderbilt helped finance a Costa Rican army, which defeated Walker’s forces, and paid men under Walker’s command to defect. Walker later sought protection on a British naval vessel, whose captain turned him over to Hondurans, who executed him in 1860.
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1871 Costa Rica hired Minor C. Keith (23), an engineer from Brooklyn, to build a rail line. Keith grew bananas on the right of way to help finance the project. His enterprise grew to become the United Fruit Company, later Chiquita
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1910 May 8, Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno (b.1859) began serving his first term as president of Costa Rica. In 1914 he was succeeded by Alfredo Gonzalez Flores.
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1919 Jun 4, US marines invaded Costa Rica.
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1924 May 8, Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno (b.1859) began serving his 2nd term as president of Costa Rica. In 1928 he was succeeded by Cleto Gonzalez Viquez.
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1932 May 8, Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno (b.1859) began serving his 3rd term as president of Costa Rica. In 1936 he was succeeded by Leon Cortes Castro.
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1940s The US Navy acquired two-thirds of Vieques, Costa Rica, a 20-by-4-mile island for $1.4 million.
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1941 Dec 6, John Nelson, conductor (Les Troyens of Berlioz), was born in San Jose, Costa Rica
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1943 A Vultee BT-13 Valiant disappeared on a flight from San Antonio, Texas, to Chile. Pilot Werner Martinez and Sgt. Tomas Ayala were on ill-fated flight, which crashed in Costa Rica. In 2008 police were led to the crash site after an anonymous caller reported seeing a local resident carrying plane parts in the town of San Isidro de El Guarco.
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1945 Jan 4, Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno (b.1859), 3-term president of Costa Rica, died.
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1948 Feb 8, The National Republicans, who had held the majority of Costa Rica's political power for decades, were finally voted out of the presidency. The National Republicans used their strong influence in the Legislative Assembly to annul the presidential election of rival candidate Otilio Ulate of the Social Democratic Party.
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1948 Apr 12, Cartago, Costa Rica, fell into the hands of Jose Figueres Ferrer, a vociferous adversary of the National Republicans.
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1948 Apr 19, Teodoro Picado and Father Benjamin Nunez, an eminent labor leader within Costa Rica, signed The Pact of the Mexican Embassy, ending an armed uprising
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1948 Apr 24, The forces of Jose Figueres Ferrer entered San Jose, almost six weeks after beginning their revolt in southern Costa Rica.
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1948 Dec 1, Costa Rica’s President José Figueres Ferrer abolished the military after victory in a civil war.
