page_title: Alajuela Province
section_title: Pre-Columbia and the arrival of the Spanish
hierarchical_section_title: Alajuela Province / Provincial history / Pre-Columbia and the arrival of the Spanish
caption_attribution_description: English: A traditional conical hut of the Maleku indigenous people of Costa Rica, in a Maleku trading/tourist outpost near La Fortuna, Costa Rica.
context_page_description: Alajuela 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 cabecera is Alajuela. Other large cities include Quesada, Aguas Zarcas, Naranjo, Zarcero, Orotina, Sarchí Norte, Upala, San Ramón, Grecia and Los Chiles.
context_section_description: 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, which today is the Canton of Mateo.
caption: Indigenous hut
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