A large portion of this group descends from the late 19th, and early 20th century waves of Afro-Caribbean migrant workers (mostly from Jamaica).

Slave trade was common in all the countries conquered by Spain, and in Costa Rica the first Black people seem to have come from specific sources in Africa- Equatorial and Western regions.

The people from these areas were thought of as ideal slaves because they had a reputation for being more robust, affable and hard-working than other Africans.

Costa Rica has the largest Jamaican diaspora after Cuba and Panama and its development as a nation is witness to this contribution.

[4] Since 1850, fishermen of Afro-Caribbean origin began to settle in the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, especially from Panama and the West Indies.

Because of the scarcity of local labor, workers were imported from Italy, China, and the Caribbean and Central America.

[4] So on December 20, 1872, the Lizzie, the first boat from Jamaica, arrived at the port of Limón with 123 workers to work on the railroad.

Until 1949 Costa Rica had segregation laws where Black people lived exclusively in the Caribbean Province of Puerto Limón.