Costa Rican People

In general, Costa Ricans are fun-loving, friendly, educated, polite, and kind people. There are, of course, exceptions, but on the whole, you can expect to be made welcome wherever you go. Costa Rican people are extremely social, and they enjoy gatherings and celebrations of all sorts.

The colloquial term often used to describe a native of Costa Rica is "ico" or "tica." It derives from Costa Ricans' fondness of using the -tico diminutive suffix in Spanish instead of the more common and widely-used -ito, and is a friendly and respectful way the people of Costa Rica use to refer to themselves and each other.

Because of an overwhelming European influence, over 90% of Costa Rica is of white or mestizo heritage stemming from the Columbus explorations and Spanish conquests of the early 1500s. The population of indigenous people in Costa Rica is very small. This is due to the fact that many of the native people were decimated by Spanish conquests and others were diluted after centuries of mixing. However, there are areas that have strong links to African lineage, e.g., on the Caribbean coast, and there are indigenous people who inhabit the mountains of Talamanca.