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64-485: The park protects over 29,500 acres (11,938 ha) of humid lowlands tropical forest. It is one of the country's least-visited parks; this has allowed the park to remain ecologically rich and diverse. Rare (and even endangered) species live within the park, including jaguars, ocelots, pumas, and tapirs. The park also protects the Dantas River Watershed, which is an important source of water for the people and animals of

128-540: A central location. Instead, dwellings are often dispersed, sometimes a few kilometers apart. The notion of densely nucleated towns or villages was introduced in the region by the Spanish in the colonial era to coerce Talamancan indigenous groups into concentrated settlements, but these attempts were met with resistance. Stone observes that the word for ‘town’ or ‘city’ does not even exist in Bribri or Cabécar languages; instead ‘city’

192-577: A comarca. However, the passage of Law Number 72 by the National Assembly of Panama in 2008 provided a pathway to grant legal title to collective landholdings for Indigenous groups like the Bribri without comarcas. In Costa Rica, the recognition of Bribri reservations granted them legal title to some of their traditional lands. However, as parts of this territory were legally occupied by non-Indigenous settlers prior to 1977, some of these settlers remain on territory which after 1977 has legally belonged to

256-617: A host of other uses. Cabécar subsistence in the natural environment takes place in two realms: the ‘near space’ in and around the house or village, where human activity has modified the landscape; and the ‘far space,’ where natural, primary forests remain unchanged and where human activity must coexist harmoniously with the environment. Subsistence agriculture in near space is one of the most important activities in which Cabécar households employ three distinct agricultural systems: tropical home gardens, slash-and-burn , and plantain cultivation. Cabécar households maintain tropical home gardens with

320-517: A plot has yielded two or three grain harvests, it is left fallow for as long as twelve years to regain its fertility. During this lapse, secondary growth covers the plot, and the Cabécar harvest non-cultivated species to supplement their dietary, medicinal, and material needs. Cultivation of the exotic plantain hybrid ( Musa x paradisiaca ) in both monoculture and polyculture plots has become increasingly prevalent in Cabécar communities and has changed

384-400: A plot roughly one hectare in size in either alluvial valleys or on steep upland slopes where basic grains like rice ( Oryza sativa ) and maize ( Zea mays ) are cultivated with beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) and rotated with alternating fallow (rest) periods. It is not uncommon for one Cabécar household to work two or three plots, rotating cultivated crops both within and among them. Once

448-606: A population of nearly 17,000. Cabécar territory extends northwest from the Río Coen to the Río Reventazón. Many Cabécar settlements today are located inside reserves established by Costa Rican law in 1976 to protect indigenous ancestral homelands. These reserves exhibit ecological diversity, including vast swaths of tropical rainforest covering steep escarpments and large river valleys where many Cabécar still employ traditional subsistence livelihoods and cultural practices. Cabécar

512-674: A small population of Costa Rican and West Indian farmers remained in the Talamanca region, and some Bribri communities were able to resettle the Talamanca Valley. While the Union Oil Company began to operate in the region, they did not displace Bribri communities to the degree that the United Fruit Company had. The area has remained fairly inaccessible to outsiders and culturally and economically independent since United Fruit left

576-475: A variety of trees and plants for domestic consumption. These gardens generally are very dense with a multi-layered canopy . Cedar ( Cedrela odorata ), laurel ( Cordia alliodora ), balsa ( Ochroma pyramidale ) and peach palm ( pejibaye or Bactris gasipaes ) are among the tallest trees often found in Cabécar tropical home gardens. Lower strata include permanent crops such as coffee ( Coffea arabica ) and cacao ( Theobroma cacao ). The lowest stratum

640-414: Is matrilineal ; that is, a child's clan is determined by the clan his or her mother belongs to. This gives women a very important place in Bribri society since they are the only ones that can inherit land and prepare the sacred cacao ( Theobroma cacao ) drink that is essential for their rituals. Men's roles are defined by their clan, and these roles often are exclusively for men. Examples of these roles are

704-443: Is a strategy some Cábecar activists have argued excludes other Indigenous groups. However, Indigenous advocates have expressed the hope that tensions will be resolved through dialogue. The Bribri people live in the mountains and islands of southern Costa Rica and northern Panama both on reservations and non-protected areas. The Bribri social structure is organized in clans. Each clan is composed of an extended family. The clan system

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768-482: Is characterized by medicinal plants, shrubs, and tubers, including chili pepper ( Capsicum annuum ), manioc ( Manihot esculenta ), and tiquisque ( Xanthosoma violaceum ). The Cabécar maintain their tropical home gardens by removing undesired underbrush to allow for growth of wild species that can also be harvested to supplement Cabécar everyday needs. Cabécar subsistence farmers practice rotating slash-and-burn agriculture for basic food requirements. This technique

832-515: Is controlled communally by the matrilineal clan still persist. The tribe's sovereignty of their land is being threatened by Latino farmers who have killed chiefs and disarmed tribals in the 21st century. Bribri people The Bribri (also Abicetava ) are an Indigenous people in eastern Costa Rica and northern Panama . Today, most Bribri people speak the Bribri language or Spanish. There are varying estimates from government officials of

896-446: Is employed during the driest month to clear dense underbrush from a plot using a machete or axe. The plant biomass is left to dehydrate and decompose for several weeks and then eliminated in a controlled burn . After the plot cools, the farmer can sow basic grains by placing seeds into shallow holes in the topsoil made by the sharpened tip of a branch fashioned from the pejibaye palm ( Bactris gasipaes ). Cabécar farmers generally select

960-509: Is larger. They are also a voting majority in the Puerto Viejo de Talamanca area. The Bribri historically struggled to remain on their land and preserve their culture, though the Costa Rican government currently recognizes their use of designated Indigenous Territories , and they are one of the formally recognized Indigenous peoples of Panama . Political struggles by some Bribri activists for

1024-604: Is one of sixteen remaining languages in the Chibchan language family of the Isthmo-Colombian Area , a region of southern Central America (specifically eastern Honduras , Nicaragua , Costa Rica , and Panama ) and northwestern Colombia bifurcating the areas of Mesoamerican and South American linguistic traditions. The extensive geographic distribution of the Chibchan language family has sparked debate among scholars regarding

1088-407: Is represented in Bribri as ‘great place or extension’ and in Cabécar as ‘place of many houses’. Most Cabécar and Bribri villages reflect patterns of dispersed settlement today, an indicator of the geographic isolation of the Talamanca region and of the limited contact these indigenous groups had with the Spanish. Cabécar social organization is predicated on matrilineal clans in which the mother

1152-408: Is the head of household. Matrimonial norms restrict an individual from marrying a relative within the blood group related to the individual's mother. On the father's side, marriages are not prohibited beyond the father's sisters and first cousins. Each matrilineal clan controls marriage possibilities, regulates land tenure , and determines property inheritance for its members. Private land tenure, like

1216-508: Is the only one that can fly high enough to reach the top of the Universe and thus serves as a link between Sibú and the other worlds. It is believed that while regular vultures, who are his helpers, roost in trees like other birds, the vulture king rises up to sleep with Sibú after eating. Agriculture is the main activity of the Bribri. The Bribri are isolated, and have developed an extensive bartering system. One small group of Bribri, who live in

1280-438: Is to help families and individuals become self-sufficient. El Puente also offers educational working volunteer opportunities, including documentation and preservation of a medicinal plant garden, preparing and serving meals at the community kitchen, and working with local family farmers. Surf For Life is a non-profit organization designed to connect travelers with community service activities benefitting coastal communities around

1344-529: The Centrifugal Expansion Theory suggesting that Chibchan-speaking groups developed in-situ over a long period of time from an origin at the Talamanca mountain range of present-day Costa Rica and Panama. From there, Chibchan linguistic groups migrated and settled as far north as eastern Honduras and as far south as Colombia. Today the Bribri and Cabécar indigenous groups are known collectively as

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1408-597: The Talamanca . The term Talamanca is not indigenous; it was adopted in the early 17th century from the Spanish town of Santiago de Talamanca as an umbrella designation for the aboriginal groups living between the current Costa Rican-Panamian border and the Río Coen in Costa Rica. Spanish records document the names of many closely related groups (Ara, Ateo, Abicetaba, Blancos, Biceitas or Viceitas, Korrhué, Ucabarúa, and Valientes) living in this area who became known collectively as

1472-459: The "awa" or shaman, and the "oko", the only person allowed to touch the remains of the dead, sing funeral songs, and prepare the food eaten at funerals. Cacao, as in most of the indigenous groups in southern Costa Rica and northern Panama, has a special significance in Bribri culture. For them the cacao tree used to be a woman that Sibú (God) turned into a tree. Cacao branches are never used as firewood and only women are allowed to prepare and serve

1536-447: The Bribri and Cabécar people of Talamanca, in cooperation with the CCSS ( Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social ) and local tribal organizations. Under the direction of the founder, Dr. Peter S. Aborn DDS, groups of professional and student volunteers treat patients in week-long visits to the reserve twice a year. Dr. Aborn's team of volunteers is committed to providing free care to patients in

1600-571: The Bribri and the neighboring Cábecar as the "Talamanca." Bribri forces were able to conquer the neighboring Cábecar and defeat other tribes in the Talamanca region to establish the Kingdom of Talamanca prior to the early 19th century, while a splinter group settled to the west of the Talamanca range at some point towards the end of the 19th century, although these events are poorly documented in written Spanish sources. Geographic isolation kept Spanish settlers, commerce, and agricultural practices out of

1664-804: The Bribri or Cabécar according to their geographic location east or west of the Río Dyke. Bribri elders maintain that their name is a derivation of dererri , the Bribri term for "strong" or "hard." Conversely, Cabécar elders suggest that their name derives from the words kabé ( quetzal ) and ká (place), in reference to the Cabécar ancestral tradition of eating the quetzal. Modern Bribri and Cabécar languages are similar in lexicon , orthography , and tonal levels (high and low pitches), but they are not mutually interchangeable. A variety of activities characterize Cabécar subsistence livelihoods today. These include small-scale agriculture, hunting, fishing, and harvesting wild flora for food, medicine , house materials, and

1728-428: The Bribri, and have not yet accepted compensation for their removal. This has led Bribri activists and organizers, or land defenders , to politically organize to reclaim their traditional territory within reservation bounds. Some activists have faced threats from the people and business interests seeking to remain on the land which is now recognized as belonging to the Bribri, including the Bribri activist Sergio Rojas who

1792-551: The Talamanca region during the colonial period, as did resistance by Indigenous groups across the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Armed resistance by Indigenous groups in the Talamanca region in the 17th and 18th centuries destroyed Franciscan missions and halted the extension of Spanish power. This allowed the Bribri to preserve their language, spiritual practices, and some elements of their culture. However, some Bribri communities which fell under Spanish control were forcibly resettled to

1856-415: The Talamanca. A scarcity of historical documents describing aboriginal groups in southeastern Costa Rica has made it difficult for scholars to differentiate the culture histories of the present-day Bribri and Cabécar. Spanish Franciscan fathers in the early 17th century noted linguistic differences among the various Talamancan tribes mentioned above, but generally these groups became known more broadly as

1920-436: The belongings are inherited by whomever she designated as the subsequent owner. Contact with non-indigenous peoples has exposed the Cabécar to Western forms of land tenure based on private ownership. Some Cabécar villages have begun to recognize land as property, evident in the construction of fences that demarcate boundaries around agricultural plots or household gardens, but traditional Cabécar land tenure regimes in which land

1984-473: The community called Kekoldi , only has about 200 people. They partake in the unique practice of iguana farming. These iguanas are released into the forest so any other Bribri can hunt them for their food and skin. The farm has been operating for 11 years and has about 2,000 iguanas and 2,000,000 eggs. The iguanas stay on the farm until five years of age at which time they are released into the wild. The Kekoldi have maintained their own culture. Some Bribri from

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2048-404: The company expanded north from Panama its railways pushed into the formerly geographically isolated Talamanca Valley and the Bribri heartland in 1908. Saldaña sought to resist the expansion of United Fruit land claims in his territory, but in 1910 died from poisoning, as did his nephew and successor 8 days later. While no definitive proof demonstrates that the United Fruit Company was responsible for

2112-479: The consumption of beans, rice, corn, and a variety of other produce. Many Bribri are isolated from Hispanic culture and the global economy. This has allowed them to maintain their indigenous culture and language, although it has also resulted in less access to education and health care. Although the group has the lowest income per capita in Costa Rica, they are able to fulfill their basic needs by growing their food, finding medicine, and collecting housing materials in

2176-415: The forest. They also earn money to purchase what they cannot grow themselves through tourism and by selling cacao, bananas, and plantains . The name "Bribri," according to contemporary accounts by some Bribri elders, comes from their word for "strong." The earliest written accounts of their people come from Spanish colonial officials and Franciscan missionaries in the early 17th century, who referred to

2240-451: The forests necessary for their subsistence economy may be stripped away by logging operations. While the Bribri and Cábecar peoples inhabit some of the same regions and maintain similar political goals, the groups have been reported to have a history of ethnic tension, including Bribri discrimination against Cábecar people. Some Bribri political organizers see the restoration of old institutions as necessary for political advocacy, though this

2304-466: The government of Costa Rica in 1867, although the US marine John Lyon who had settled in the region was appointed as director de reducciones , or director of reductions (a kind of Spanish settlement), in Talamanca and held much of the power to govern as recognized by the national government. One of the last kings of Talamanca, Antonio Saldaña , came to power in 1880 after the previous king, William Forbes,

2368-594: The group's population. Estimates of the total Bribri population range as high as 35,000 people, although official estimates assert there are about 11,500 Bribri people in Costa Rica, and about 1000 Bribri people in Panama. According to a census by the Ministerio de Salud of Costa Rica however, there are 11,500 Bribri living within service range of the Hone Creek Clinic alone, suggesting the total Costa Rican Bribri population

2432-612: The infrastructure they built. While some contemporary studies suggest that United Fruit policy, like monocrop plantations frequented by workers traveling from infected farms which rapidly spread disease, and deforestation which removed barriers to the flow of rainwater into the Sixaola River and intensified flooding, were to blame, Bribri shamans at the time took credit for the devastation these forces wreaked on United Fruit's operations. The company ultimately abandoned its banana plantations in Talamanca in 1931. After United Fruit left, only

2496-421: The king of vultures lives. In this same level live the most malign spirits as well. The Bribri explanation for this is that Sibú keeps them enclosed there, like a warden keeps the inmates in a prison. There are also three other levels beneath the world we inhabit. One of them is the place where Bribri souls go after death. The king vulture ( Sarcoramphus papa ) holds an important place in the Bribri cosmology. He

2560-413: The legal recognition of further claims to the land they inhabit and autonomy are ongoing in both countries. The Bribri are indigenous to the Talamanca region, living in the mountains and Caribbean coastal areas of Costa Rica and Northern Panama. The majority live with running water but many have scarce electricity. Their economy centers on the growth of cacao, bananas, and plantains to sell along with

2624-635: The legal title to United Fruit. The company could then declare the local inhabitants to be squatters, and by providing minimal financial compensation, tricking people into signing away their legal rights to the land, or having workers clear the forests and disrupt settlements by force, were able to displace the Bribri from their old heartland. The Bribri remained in the Talamanca region, although forced off lands useful for banana growing to marginal lands where they continued to practice subsistence agriculture and raise livestock. While some Bribri worked part time for United Fruit, most were never fully incorporated into

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2688-468: The national military, though he did not support policy which would have abandoned the region either. Saldaña came into conflict with the United Fruit Company , a major US-based company with significant control over the banana industry in the Caribbean and Central America, in the early 20th century. The development of United Fruit plantations followed the company's construction of railroads, and as

2752-527: The north along the Caribbean coast targeting Spanish and Indigenous settlements alike further depopulated the Bribri and forced them away from the coast to inland areas from the 17th to 19th centuries. By the mid 19th century, the Bribri and Cábecar were organized under a hereditary Bribri nobility led by various kings (often with multiple people who claimed the role), along with a useköl , the highest Cábecar religious authority. The Kingdom of Talamanca received official recognition of its political leadership from

2816-413: The north and in highland regions of Costa Rica in response to resistance by Indigenous groups, ultimately being assimilated into Spanish culture and no longer practicing old traditions. While able to maintain their political power and cultural practices, the Bribri suffered from depopulation in the colonial period from Old World diseases as well as conflict with the Spanish. Raids by Miskitu forces from

2880-471: The nucleated village system, was foreign to the Cabécar before contact with the Spanish. Each clan traditionally has maintained its own designated area for the subsistence activities of its members. Personal property is inherited or passed on to clan relatives after the death of an individual. When a man dies, his personal effects can be inherited by his siblings, unless his mother is still alive, in which case she would assume possession. When she passes away,

2944-453: The ocean in the west, they can also be caused by the person's immoral behavior, or by witchcraft from envious neighbors. In order to heal, the Awa must learn special songs that allow him to connect to the spirits of the plant, the disease and the person. Once this connection is established the awa converses with all three spirits until, with the aid of the plant spirit, convinces the disease to leave

3008-718: The origin and diffusion of Chibchan languages. Two conceptual models have emerged to describe possible scenarios: the Theory of North Migration and the Centrifugal Expansion Theory . The former postulates Colombia as the historical epicenter from which Chibchan linguistic groups migrated northwestward into present-day Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. However, anthropological and archaeological evidence (see Cooke and Ranere 1992; Fonseca and Cooke 1993; Fonseca 1994), combined with glottochronological studies (see Constenla 1981, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1995), prefer

3072-456: The person. The Bribri spiritual practice centers about the conical house. Conical houses can be found in many Amazonian groups belonging to the Macro-chibchan language family . The conical house is a symbolic representation of the universe. It is supported by eight pillars symbolizing the animals that helped Sibú construct the Universe. The house has four levels representing the four levels of

3136-441: The poisonings, many contemporary observers believed they were, and regardless of guilt the poisonings ended the Talamanca monarchy and paved the way for United Fruit's expropriation of Bribri land. The United Fruit Company was able to use the legal system to their advantage to force the Bribri off the most fertile lands in the Talamanca Valley. Local intermediaries were able to purchase Bribri land, acting as landlords before selling

3200-650: The region. The Barbilla National Park is also the home of the second largest indigenous group in Costa Rica, the Cabécar people . It is also located next to the Chirripó Indigenous Reserve The park has the Barbilla Biological Station on site, as well as an administrative building located in Brisas de Pacuarito. Access is via an unpaved road, 17 km long and about an hour of driving. The start of

3264-596: The region. However, some Bribri people outside of the Talamanca region live in areas which have been more accessible and have a higher degree of economic integration with the rest of Costa Rica. In Costa Rica in 1973, the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica charged the National Committee on Indigenous Affairs (CONAI) with promoting projects on behalf of indigenous communities. In 1976, President Daniel Oduber Quiros signed Executive Decree No. 5904-G, defining

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3328-490: The remote Talamanca region of eastern Costa Rica . They speak Cabécar , a language belonging to the Chibchan language family of the Isthmo-Colombian Area of lower Central America and northwestern Colombia . According to census data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos, INEC), the Cabécar are the largest indigenous group in Costa Rica with

3392-801: The river can safely use the bridge again for everyday access to necessities like food and water supplies, school and medical services. The Tropical Adventures Foundation works inside the reservation. They provide training to help the Bribri create sustainable income for their communities, while striving to help the tribe preserve their language and culture. Tropical Adventures welcomes volunteers and provides opportunities including: teaching English, recycling and environmental education, medicinal plant project, organic farming, wildlife rehabilitation, chocolate factory, public relations and marketing, retirement home assistance, painting, building and general maintenance, elementary school projects, and trail maintenance. Project Talamanca provides free medical and dental care to

3456-516: The road is 2–3 km east of Siquirres. The buildings are actually located outside of the park. The path into the park descends through indigenous farms to the Dantas river. The main trail crosses the river and climbs the opposite hill (heading due south). There are few smaller trails. This Costa Rican protected area article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cab%C3%A9car people The Cabécar are an indigenous group of

3520-433: The sacred drink. Cacao is used in special occasions, ceremonies and in certain rites of passage such as when young girls have their first menstruation. Currently there exists several Bribri women's associations that produce organic, hand made chocolate that helps them in their livelihoods. The Shaman , or " awa " holds a very important place in Bribri society. Awapa (plural for awa ) train since they are about 8 years old;

3584-479: The structure of their traditional tropical home gardens. Cabécar households now rely on plantains for domestic consumption and as a cash economy to generate monetary income. Home gardens that have incorporated plantains tend to exhibit less plant diversity and lower density, and some Cabécar farmers have abandoned traditional indigenous agroecosystems in favor of larger plantain monoculture plots. Cabécar villages have houses and other structures are not nucleated around

3648-568: The terms of establishing indigenous reserves. Later that year, Executive Decree No. 6036-G established several indigenous reserves, including for the Bribri, which the Legislative Assembly ratified on November 16, 1977, in Indigenous Law No. 6172. In Panama, while a system for semi-autonomous Indigenous regions exists in the country under the comarca system, the Bribri population is relatively small and as such has not yet been granted

3712-473: The training is said to last between 10 and 15 years. Only certain clans are allowed to become awapa . Since the clan comes from the mother's side of the family, an awa cannot teach his own sons, but rather the sons of his female relatives. All of the knowledge is transmitted orally from an older awa to the apprentice. Bribri healing practices combine herbal medicine and spiritual healing. In their tradition illnesses can come from evil spirits that come in from

3776-444: The workforce because of cultural barriers as they insisted on working on their own terms and schedules. However, the extension of their system of bartering to plantation workers and other banana farmers, as well as the sale of their excess produce, partially integrated their farming into a broader economy. United Fruit's operations in the Talamanca region faced plant diseases which ravaged their banana crops and flooding which damaged

3840-405: The world, being the ground level the plane we inhabit. On the second level dwell the spirits of plants and animals, and the owners of the rivers, this is where Sibú's helpers live. On the third level of the universe live the spirits who cause disease and suffering and descend periodically to cause grief on earth. The final and highest level of the conical house is where Sibú, accompanied by his helper

3904-415: The world. Their mission is to assemble teams of ' voluntourists ' to travel to various project sites where they serve as hands-on workers and goodwill advocates. Volunteers team up to raise money for projects benefiting the Bribri. In March 2010, Surf For Life teams successfully restored the core structure and wooden planks of a suspension bridge up in the mountains. Now the families living on the other side of

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3968-429: The younger generation have adopted digital technologies, which have introduced them to new cultural influences. However, some Bribri elders believe this outside cultural influence is a threat to their traditions and their culture which historically resisted assimilation by outsiders. El Puente is a non-profit organization working with the Bribri people, offering educational assistance, food, and micro-loans. Their goal

4032-464: Was accused of homicide and declared to be in a state of rebellion by the Costa Rican government, leading to his removal from power. Saldaña ruled about 3,200 people from the seat of his power in Túnsula. Saldaña was resistant to policy from the Costa Rican government which could have led to the cultural assimilation of the Bribri, like the occupation of their land, the presence of teachers, or their service in

4096-458: Was murdered in 2019, following threats to his life over his land recovery efforts. In Panama, Bribri activists strive for a collective land title under Law Number 72, part of efforts for the legal recognition of collective landholdings which have been ongoing for over 30 years. Without legal protection, some Bribri activists, including King Joaquín González, fear they may be displaced or assimilated by neighboring Indigenous groups or settlers, or that

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