Editing History of Costa Rica (section)

==Central America==
{{See also|Free State of Costa Rica|League War}}
[[File:First postal stamp CR 4 Reales 1863.jpg|thumb|The 1849 [[Coat of arms of Costa Rica|national coat of arms]] was featured in the first postal stamp issued in 1862.]]
In 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor [[Agustín de Iturbide]]. A new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American Intendancies to decide their own fate. That year, the [[United Provinces of Central America]] was formed of the five Central American Intendancies under General [[Manuel José Arce]]. The Intendancies took the new name of States.  The United Provinces federation, not strongly united to begin with, rapidly disintegrated under the pressures of intra-provincial rivalries.

Following its secession from the [[Federal Republic of Central America]] in 1838, Costa Rica had no regular [[trade route]]s established to export their [[coffee]] to European markets. Lack of [[infrastructure]] caused problems in  transportation: the coffee-growing areas were mainly in the Central Valley and had access only to the port of [[Puntarenas]] on the Pacific coast. Before the [[Panama Canal]] opened, ships from Europe had to sail around [[Cape Horn]] in order to get to the Pacific Coast. In 1843, the country established a trade route to Europe with the help of [[William Le Lacheur]], a [[Guernsey]] merchant and shipowner.

In 1856, [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]], an American [[Filibuster (military)|filibuster]], began incursions into Central America. After landing in [[Nicaragua]], he proclaimed himself as president of Nicaragua and re-instated [[slavery]], which had been abolished.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.vivacostarica.com/costa-rica-information/history-of-costa-rica-4.html| title = history of costa rica<!-- Bot generated title -->| access-date = 2012-05-22| archive-date = 2018-10-26| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181026092931/http://www.vivacostarica.com/costa-rica-information/history-of-costa-rica-4.html| url-status = dead}}</ref>  He intended to expand into Costa Rica and after he entered that territory, the country declared [[Campaign of 1856–1857|war]] against his forces. Led by Commander in Chief of the Army of Costa Rica, President [[Juan Rafael Mora Porras]], the filibusters were defeated and forced out of the country. Costa Rican forces followed the filibusters into [[Rivas, Nicaragua]], where in a final battle, William Walker and his forces were finally pushed back. In this final battle, [[Juan Santamaría]], a drummer boy from [[Alajuela]], lost his life torching the filibusters' stronghold. He is today remembered as a national hero.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofcentralamerica/a/wwalker_2.htm| title = The Biography of William Walker<!-- Bot generated title -->| access-date = 2012-05-22| archive-date = 2016-01-23| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160123231750/http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofcentralamerica/a/wwalker_2.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref>