Tales of Three Towns: History of Cahuita, Puerto Viejo, and Punta Uva
Cahuita –
Cahuita is one of the few towns in Costa Rica that best preserves the Afro-Caribbean heritage found in the Talamanca and Limon Provinces. This area is also one of the most culturally diverse regions in Costa Rica. The earliest records for Cahuita describe how the Miskitu people, who originated in Nicaragua and Panama, would travel to present-day Cahuita Point by following the natural migration of turtles down the coast. Turtle hunting and fishing was common practice at this time and was a major component of life in early Cahuita.
The Miskitu named their fishing and hunting settlement “cawi-ta,” which means “point where the sangrillo trees grow.” This name derived from the cawi trees, or sangrillo in Spanish, whose characteristic feature is the red sap that appears, like blood, when exposed. In 1828, William Smith, an Afro-Caribbean from Bocas del Toro, arrived in Cahuita to hunt turtles and decided to settle his family there permanently. Others soon followed and the community began small-scale production of coconut, cacao, subsistence agriculture, hunting, and fishing. By 1882, there were already 14 houses in the village.
After 1890, there was a significant influx of Jamaicans to Cahuita, who brought with them the Rastafarian culture evident in the community today. In 1915, the town had grown to over 25 homes when the president of Costa Rica, Don Alfredo Gonzalez Flores, was shipwrecked off Tuba Creek near the Point. The people of Cahuita took him in and, as a sign of gratitude for their generosity, he purchased and donated the land to the people. In addition to this, Flores sent an engineer to the town and set up the present day buildings and structure north of Playa Blanca.
Large companies in the early twentieth century, including the Sinclair Oil Company and the Penshurt Banana Company, brought with them new communication channels and structures, but the town had remained relatively secluded until then. In 1967, a road was finally built that linked the communities of Bri Bri, Puerto Viejo, Cahuita, and Hone Creek with Penshurt, and later from Penshurt to Limon.
The secluded lifestyle of this small town changed dramatically with the declaration of the lush rain forest, unique beaches, and vast reef system as a National Monument in 1970. In 1978 the Cahuita National Monument was changed to Cahuita National Park and the area was marketed as a major tourist attraction by the country. Today, through collaboration with the national government, the people of Cahuita have embraced their unique cultural roots and work to manage the park and all forms of natural and cultural heritage found within.
Puerto Viejo –
Originally called Old Harbor, this town was renamed Puerto Viejo de Talamanca by the Costa Rican government in an effort to unify the country under the Spanish language. The village is approximately 30 miles North of the Panama border. Today, the population consists primarily of Ticos and Ticas (native Costa Ricans), Jamacians, Europeans, and Chinese.
Historically situated on a beach break, the town was moved to its current location because its original position was used as a battlefield between the indigenous people and pirates. When it was relocated, Puerto Viejo consisted of 9 houses, 2 taverns, a church and an English school. Over time the village grew to be the main port for Limon Province. It was significant in the transfer of people and goods locally – between Cahuita and Punta Uva – and internationally – between Panama and Nicaragua.
Big business invaded Caribbean Costa Rica in the early twentieth century. Banana plantations in Panama needed to ship their produce from Sixaola to Cuabre, bringing a railroad through Puerto Viejo. In the 1920’s Sinclair Oil Company built a wooden pier in the town too. This was replaced in 1953 with a metal alternative, called El Lanchon, by Loffland Oil Company. The oil companies pulled out of Limon Province, though, leaving El Lanchon as a reminder of their time in the town. The government also tried to grow the sleepy fishing village by sending engineers to build roads and city structures in 1935. Slowly, the modern world caught up to Puerto Viejo. A road from San Jose came to the area in 1979. Electricity illuminated the town in 1986. Private phone lines were installed in 1996. And high speed internet connected the village to the rest of the world in 2006.
Today, Puerto Viejo is a popular tourist destination. People travel from all over the world to see its black sand beaches and ride Salsa Brava, or the big waves, but the people have not given up their unique Afro-Caribbean culture. When mega-marinas, oil companies, and big business try to invade Puerto Viejo, the people protest. Instead, they fight for sustainable tourism and the land they have called home for generations.Today, approximately 90 percent of Talamanca is a reserve or nature preserve of some kind. In 2012, 9 houses were demolished because they did not meet maritime zoning laws. Because the people spoke up, new laws were passed in 2014 allowing others to remain in houses also set for demolition. We hope that this unique culture will shine through in our research.
Punta Uva –
Punta Uva, or Grape Point, is a small village on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Known for its beautiful beaches, this village gets its name from the sea grapes that grow on the coast. The beaches are undeveloped because no development is permitted within 50 meters of the high tide mark. Much of this area was isolated and untouched until recently; a paved road was not completed until 2003. This area is now a popular spot for surfing, hiking, and other ecotourism activities.
The history of Punta Uva is much like the history of the rest of Costa Rica; it was not a province of Spain until the 1560s because of the dense rainforests and disease, causing colonization to stagnate. Much of Costa Rica, especially the Caribbean side of the country, was unincorporated in the colonial period.
Nevertheless, cacao plantations on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica were an important part of economic development in the colonial period. Costa Rica was a port of call for pirates, prompting Spain to close all ports in 1665, which also ended oceangoing legal trade and created a catalyst for smuggling.
Punta Uva is within the Talamanca Province, which is populated with many indigenous peoples who lived in interspersed groups throughout Costa Rica 10,000 years before European contact. Upon the Spaniards’ arrival, many of the groups died as a result of disease or enslavement, and others moved deeper into the mountains to escape the Europeans and continue their lifestyle.
One of these Indigenous groups, the Bri-Bri, can be found on Yorkin Indigenous Reserve. The group has its own language, is matrilineal, and relies heavily upon agriculture and bartering, growing goods such as plantains, coconuts, beans, and cacao. Many also participate in iguana farming. Tourists are welcome at the reserve and provide supplemental income to the Bri-Bri, which allows the group to preserve and share their cultural identity.
The Cabécar is another (and the largest) Indigenous group; it is least influenced by modern outsiders. They reside in the Chirripo Mountains – a long hike is required to reach the group. This allowed the Cabécar to preserve their cultural identities. Most speak their own language instead of Spanish.
Pirates of Cahuita:
Allyson Ropp – I am interested in studying piracy in the region to understand how local legends influence (or if they even do influence) both archaeologists and tourist agencies in discussing wreck sites. I am also interested to see if there is any historical documentation that relates to these legends or if they are just fantasy tales. I plan on creating a poster about my findings to show other the complexities of how these legends influence other academic fields as well as possibly comparing it to how other places, i.e. North Carolina and Massachusetts, have dealt with similar wreck sites and the tourist industry.
Costa Rica’s Cahuita Point was historically used as a hideout for pirates. Selles Johnson, grandson of the settlement’s founder, retells a story from his childhood about two shipwrecks off the point. He believes that these ships were pirate ships; that one was Spanish, the other French; and that bottles found on the wrecks date the sites as early as 1717. Johnson described why pirates were in the area, stating, “Pirates were all around here those old days. They were wrecking the people, robbing the people, in Bocas, Portobelo, and all along the coast.” He believed that the ships “[were] hiding in Puerto Vargas and [leaving] from there and come around the reef, and they must have stopped because at those days the British ship did have coal. You could see the smoke steaming in the air. So the pirate see it out in the sea and they comes in here to hide.” The wrecks are not the only evidence of piracy described in local beliefs. Augustus Mason, a resident of Puerto Viejo (historically “Old Harbor”), located south of Cahuita, tells a story regarding buried pirate treasure. He says that, “every seven to ten years when you have an eruption in the sea you can see the anchor chain of the ships of the pirates wash out on the sand by Pirripli Key. That was the hiding place for the treasures of the pirates. All these coast is with treasures, you know. They bury the treasure in different spots on the land.” Mason’s story continues, relating how, as a child, he and his family searched for such treasure but that none has ever been found in the area. The local legends surrounding Cahuita and the larger Caribbean coastline clearly reflect a deep relationship with the Golden Age of Pirates.
The Caribbean is known to have attracted pirates in great number during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Countries throughout Europe attempted to profit off of Spain’s treasure trade. The Caribbean beaches of Costa Rica sat in Spanish trade routes, but were mostly isolated from the colonization efforts because the land produced very little in the way of gold and silver. This isolation and placement on the flotilla routes made this location a perfect point for attack. Famous pirates, like Henry Morgan, stopped in Costa Rica to refit vessels or to launch terrestrial attacks on Spanish forts in Panama and Venezuela. The historic records about piracy in other parts of Costa Rica provide further evidence supporting the local legends in Cahuita.
The mixture of local legend and historical fact concerning pirates in the Talamanca region created an opportunity to develop an attraction. Many Costa Rican tourist agencies promote Cahuita for its link with piracy. Most use Selles Johnson’s story about the Cahuita shipwrecks, documented in “What Happened”: A Folk-History of Costa Rica’s Talamanca Coast by Paula Palmer (2005). The agencies realize that pirate lore will attract more tourists than marketing the sites as slave shipwrecks. While slave ships are a hot topic among maritime archaeologists, they do not offer the same intrigue and appeal that piracy does to tourists – particularly today as pirates have re-entered the public interest through movies, such as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Whether or not one choses to believe the local legends, there is historical evidence to suggest a pirate presence in Cahuita and the lore draws tourists and money to the region.
Maroon Communities in the Cahuita Area:
Devin Urban – My interest in the Miskitu stems from a general interest in self-emancipated slaves, commonly called maroons, throughout the Americas. Marronage, the act of self-liberation, was a consistent and prominent feature of slavery. Examining marronage in the Americas promotes a more comprehensive understanding of the African diaspora and the development of the Atlantic World. To date, my research has focused primarily on the maroons who occupied the Great Dismal Swamp on the border of North Carolina and Virginia. The comparative perspective gained through examination of the Miskitu will undoubtedly be of value to future research regarding maroons, the African diaspora, and the Atlantic World.
According to folklore, a vessel laden with African slaves shipwrecked off the Caribbean coast of Central America in 1641 (several sources suggest alternative dates for the shipwrecking event – all fall between 1639 and 1650). Several specific locations have also been suggested, including the mouths of the Rio Coco at the border of Nicaragua and Honduras and the Rio San Juan at the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The Africans that were onboard and escaped the shipwreck soon came into contact with a group of indigenous Americans known as the Miskitu. Much like the circumstances of the wrecking event, the exact nature of the interactions between the Miskitu and the liberated slaves is unclear. Some reports suggest that the Miskitu enslaved the Africans, while others suggest that the relationship was amicable and egalitarian. Accurately describing the origins and early development of the African Miskitu people is particularly challenging since the documentary record is sparse and often contradictory. The opportunity to perform research in Cahuita, Costa Rica, will assist in understanding local perspectives regarding the Miskitu.
Cahuita is located in Talamanca, the southernmost canton (county) on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. During the eighteenth century the Miskitu occupied the coast of Talamanca, sometimes raiding the interior to capture and enslave other indigenous peoples whom they sold to their English allies. Additionally, the Miskitu settled along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica to hunt sea turtles. North of Talamanca, in the Valley of Matina, the Miskitu also raided cacao plantations. By the time the Miskitu began raiding plantations in Matina, the Miskitu king was of African descent. Since then, the king has been consistently a Miskitu of African descent. The Miskitu kingdom had become, and remains today, a heterogeneous society where self-emancipated slaves were able to escape and flourish.
Yoruba slaves trade in Nigeria:
Wale Oyediran – My research interest is slave ships and the sea routes used to transport slaves out of Africa and to other parts of the world, focusing mainly on the Americas. I am very excited about this project because we will be investigating shipwreck sites that may be related to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. My research will help to identify the ethnic groups on board shipwrecks in the area and may provide answers to the question: why there is so little present of the Yoruba in Costa Rica?
The Yoruba are an ethnic group of more than fifty million people bound together by a distinct language, history, and culture. They are predominantly located in southwest Nigeria, but some West African countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia also have significant Yoruba populations.
According to Yoruba mythology, the people are descendants of Oduduwa – a spirit sent by Olodumare (the supreme God) to create the world. They claim that Oduduwa landed first in Ile-ife, located in present day Osun state in southwest Nigeria, and that mankind began to spread to other parts of the world from there. Ile-ife is, therefore, regarded as the cradle of civilization and the ancestral home of all Yoruba.
The Yoruba began to organize, formed relationships, and established hierarchies that ultimately led to the creation of the Oyo Empire in the fifteenth century. This empire grew to become one of the most politically influential states in West Africa at the time. It offically adopted the Yoruba language and conquered territories that spread as far as the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey, in present day Benin.
By the sixteenth century, when the slave trade began in Africa, the Oyo Empire controlled the slave trade because it dominated the coast. Oyo merchants traded captives and criminals for European goods at the Bight of Benin. Territories under the Oyo Empiral control paid royalties accrued from slave sales to the Olubadan, or King.
The slave trade facilitated the spread of Yoruba descendants to various parts of the world, notably Brazil, Cuba, the Caribbean, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A few Yoruba descendants can also be found in Costa Rica and Peru. The Yoruba culture can be seen today in the Caribbean, Brazil, Cuba, and other South American countries through Ifa, an indigenous Yoruba religion. It is important to note that it was not only Yorubas that were transported to the New World; other ethnic groups from across West Africa, who similiarly took their culture with them, were also traded.
Yoruba slaves arrived in Costa Rica by accident when the Chrisantus Quintus and Federicus Quartus wrecked off the Caribbean coast. These two Danish ships were originally sailing for St. Thomas, but they wrecked off Cahuita, Costa Rica because of a mutiny. Costa Rican archives do not contain large records regarding the Yoruba slaves, known locally as Lucumi or Nago slaves. This might be, in part, because few Yoruba arrived at the colony or because slave masters and government officials repeatedly confused the Yoruba with other ethnic groups.
A Gendered Study of Slave Ship Archaeology:
Kelsey Dwyer – My area of study is the influence of African female slaves in the transatlantic slave trade. I will be researching this influence using the maritime landscape and material culture of slave archaeology to project a gendered lens onto the discussion of slave shipwrecks, specifically within the Caribbean, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
By observing the evolution of women’s identity from Africa, across the Middle Passage, and ultimately throughout the Caribbean, a greater knowledge about slave archaeology can be gained. This work will incorporate the historic information behind these women and the contextual circumstances surrounding their day-to-day lives.
The identity of “mother” is continuously present among African slave women traveling across the Atlantic. Seeking to add dimension and broaden the perspective of this topic across maritime landscapes, this research looks at how prominent women were aboard Henrietta Marie and what archaeological evidence there was of females on slave vessels. By viewing the contributions of African female slaves during their passage to the Caribbean, theories can be developed relating to what women’s overall contribution was to the slave culture and how this culture can be viewed in modern times.
Slaving vessels in the Caribbean remain a rare and virtually unexplored portion of maritime archaeology. Most artifacts related to the transportation of slaves have been found amongst the wreckage of Henrietta Marie. With a cargo capacity of 120 tons, Henrietta Marie played a key role in the transatlantic trade where it dealt in both goods and slaves during the eighteenth century. Sailing for the Royal African Company, this English vessel traveled from Europe; through the Guinea Coast, where it loaded African slaves; and then across the Middle Passage to areas of Barbados and Jamaica.
In May 1701, Henrietta Marie prepared for the voyage back to England after it delivered slaves to the Carribean. The ship was loaded with a cargo of sugar, cotton, dyewoods, and ginger; while passing through the Yucatan Channel, off of Cuba’s western shore, Henrietta Marie wrecked on New Ground Reef near the Marquesas Keys, thirty-five miles away from, what is today, Key West.
The shipwreck boasts more than 7,000 artifacts, 30,000 glass beads, and has yielded the largest known collection of artifacts from a slave ship. While its discovery and excavation remain a point of contented discussion, Henrietta Marie remains an iconized shipwreck in slavery archaeology because of its overall quantity, as well as quality, of artifacts. Henrietta Marie is important to slave archaeology because it represents an essential part of recovering the slave experiences.
In the future, further shipwreck examples will, hopefully, be discovered and can be used to answer research questions about the overall and lasting identity of African slave women within the maritime landscape. There has been very little discussion about the projection of gender onto the context of shipwrecks, and a study into slavery provides a perfect connection to both gendered studies and maritime archaeology.