Alajuela Province

Alajuela (Spanish pronunciation: [alaˈxwela]) is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the north-central part of the country, bordering Nicaragua to the north. It also borders the provinces of Heredia to the east, San José to the south, Puntarenas to the southwest and Guanacaste to the west. As of 2011, the province had a population of 885,571. Alajuela is composed of 16 cantons, which are divided into 111 districts. It covers an area of 9,757.53 square kilometers.

The provincial capital is Alajuela. Other large cities include Quesada, Aguas Zarcas, Naranjo, Zarcero, Orotina, Sarchí Norte, Upala, San Ramón, Grecia and Los Chiles.

Costa Rica has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years, but little is known of its pre-Columbian history. Alajuela was occupied by several indigenous groups just before the arrival of the Spanish. Despite being between two major civilizations, indigenous groups sparsely populated the area. The Hueteres lived in the south of the territory, while the Botos, Guatusos, Tices and Catapas lived in the north. In the 15th century, most of the region of modern Alajuela was under the control of Garabito, an indigenous leader of whom little is known. Only the Botos, who lived in Alajuela's northern plains, resisted conquest until the early 1800s.

Starting in the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Central Valley from Guanacaste. The natives who survived epidemics and conquest were placed in the encomienda system of labor, which exploited natives and funneled money to the Spanish Crown. In 1574, the first reservation for natives was created at Santa Catalina, the Canton of Mateo.

Because land holdings in Cartago, the colonial capital of the region, were already controlled by large encomiendas, many settlers began moving west beginning in the mid-1600s. In 1657, Alajuela was mentioned for the first time in the writings of Juana de Vera y Sotomayor, a traveler who described an encomienda "on La Lajuela river". Before taking on the name of Alajuela, the area was known as Villahermosa.

Esteban Lorenzo de Tristán, Bishop of Nicaragua, Nicoya, and Costa Rica, tried organizing Catholic communities west of Heredia. In doing so, he inaugurated a small oratory to unite the scattered settlers. The oratory was centered in the village of "La Lajuela", between the Ciruelas and Alajuela rivers. Because of its creation, the city of Alajuela was officially founded on 12 October 1782. In 1790, the first official parish of Alajuela was established, led by the priest Manuel López del Corral. The creation of a parish brought more settlers to the region. Soon, they began moving further and further toward the edges of the Central Valley, founding Atenas in 1836, San Ramón in 1854, and Grecia in 1856. Soon, the cities of Naranjo, Zarcero, and Quesada were founded as well.

In 1823, during the First Costa Rican Civil War, Costa Rica was divided into two groups: the Imperialists, who were loyal to the First Mexican Empire, and the Republicans, who wanted independence. For the most part, Alajuela and San José fought against the coup staged by the Republicans in Heredia and Cartago. The Alajuelan side won. Costa Rica left the Mexican Empire shortly before it dissolved. While Costa Rica was a member of the Federal Republic of Central America in the 1830s, the city of Alajuela was the nation's capital.

In 1831, Alajuelan folk hero Juan Santamaría was born. Santamaría was a peasant boy who volunteered as a drummer during the Campaign of 1856–1857. On 11 April 1856, Santamaría sacrificed himself to burn filibuster William Walker's stronghold at Santa Rosa, asking only that his mother be taken care of.