The year that coffee arrived in America was probably 1714, when the first plants were introduced to the island of Martinique; these gave rise to the Antillean coffee plants and the first coffee plants brought to Costa Rica in the middle 18th century came from them.
Costa Rican coffee, grown more than 1,200 m (3,937 feet) above sea level, is considered one of the best in the world. Coffee is grown in temperate and cold zones of tropical and subtropical regions, due to its widespread consumption.
Important events regarding the introduction of coffee to Costa Rica
In 1791: A letter mentions the delivery of two pounds of coffee from Panama by the trader Agustín de Gana to the Governor of Costa Rica José Vásquez y Tellez. (Series: Complementario Colonial No. 4915. 6-8-1897. F.-2-3. National Archives).
In 1816: History has it that Father Feliz Velarde was the first coffee grower; in his will he makes reference to coffee yard and according to tradition distributed the seeds to his neighbors, inviting them to plant them.
October 12, 1820: The vessel Nuestra Señora exported a quintal of coffee from the port at Punta Arenas to Perico in Panama (Series: Complementario Colonial No.3209. October 1820. National Archives.).
In the decade 1830-1840: Mariano Montealegre was the main promoter of coffee cultivation.
The first two heads of state, Juan Mora Fernández and Braulio Carrillo, supported the development of coffee production and saw coffee as a product capable of generating economic growth that would benefit Costa Rican society and stimulate economic development in the future.
In 1832: The coffee trade began in Costa Rica when German trader Jorge Stiepel, a resident in Costa Rica, made the first export of coffee to Chile. There it was bought by European traders who re-exported it to London
In 1843: Captain William Le Lacheur opened the direct coffee trade with English ports and traveled from Puntarenas to London in the vessel Monarch to transport a cargo of 5,505 quintals of coffee from Costa Rica, the first export that pointed to the success of the Costa Rican coffee trade with England (Obregón Clotilde. Inicio del Comercio Británico en Costa Rica. Revista de Ciencias Sociales. 24: p. 64. 1982).
With the expansion of coffee cultivation and trade also came economic, social and cultural development, the cancellation of the federal debt, and the creation of the postal service, the first State printing house, the Santo Tomás University, the first bookstores, the National Theatre, the San José Hospital, new and improved roads and the construction of the Atlantic and Pacific railroads.
No comments:
Post a Comment