Maléku people

The Maleku are an indigenous people of Costa Rica located in the Guatuso Indigenous Reserve near the town of Guatuso (San Rafael de Guatuso). They are also known as the Guatuso, the name used by Spanish colonizers. Around 600 aboriginal people live on the reserve, making this the smallest tribe in Costa Rica, but outsiders have come into the community as well. Before the Spanish colonization, their territory extended as far west as Rincon de la Vieja, and included the volcano Arenal to the south and Rio Celeste as sacred sites. Today their reserve is concentrated south of San Rafael de Guatuso, an hour north of La Fortuna.

The Maleku historically lived in the Río Frío watershed on a geographic span of 2,500 square miles. They remained undiscovered until 1750, with the incursion of Spanish colonizers. Between 1868 and 1900, Nicaraguan rubber farmers migrated onto Maleku territory, often in armed bands, claiming traditional Maleku territories. The resulting death, enslavement, and dislocation of the Maleku eventually ended due to the influence of Catholic missionaries, in particular Bishop Bernardo Augusto Thiel. Thiel's mission to "civilize" and "Christianize" the Maleku coexisted with a desire to end the enslavement and genocide of such indigenous populations. He provided the Maleku with tools and firearms while encouraging the development of European farming practices and lobbied the government to punish citizens who captured indigenous people. In addition, he assigned people and places Spanish names despite knowing the Maleku terms. Western tools, standards of dress, and economic systems like commercial farming were impressed upon the Maleku as they were other indigenous populations in the Americas. However, the Christian tradition did not surpass traditional Maleku beliefs due to the lack of a permanent mission and the language barrier. However, the violent incursion, cultural and economic imposition, and diseases like malaria did decrease the pre-contact population of 6,000 to its current 600-member count.

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Wikipedia