Afro-Costa Ricans
Country · Costa Rica
Limón's English-speaking Creole community came from Jamaica to build the railway, then stayed to grow bananas.
Afro-Costa Ricans at a glance
- Country
- Costa Rica
- Main centres
- Limón · Puerto Viejo · Cahuita
- Region
- Central America
- How many
- Concentrated on the Caribbean coast
- Languages
- Spanish · Limonese Creole English
- Dialling code
- +506
The African connection
Recruited from Jamaica in the 1870s, they were barred from the central highlands until 1949, which is why the culture, language and food of the Caribbean coast remain distinctly West Indian. Rice and beans here is cooked in coconut milk.
Key dates for Afro-Costa Ricans
The dates this community marks — independence, emancipation, and the festivals that fill a hall wherever its people have settled.
Diaspora meets diaspora
AfricAsia began with Africans in Asia. The same story runs through every entry in this section — people of African descent building a life a long way from where their ancestors started.
If you are from Afro-Costa Ricans and you are anywhere in Asia — studying, working, playing, passing through — there are people here who will know what you are asking before you finish the question.
Every Asian country →The Afro-Costa Ricans channel
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Open the channel →