“Historical demographers have shown that prior to the arrival of Columbus at Cariara (today Puerto Limon) in 1502, the territory of Costa Rica was home to about 400,000 indigenous people. They were organized into small and politically fragmented chieftainships, not comparable in complexity to the Mayan groups in the north of Central America. Some of the most organized indigenous societies in Costa Rica were located in the Nicoya region. They were influenced by Mesoamerican culture, and the cultivation of corn predominated.”