[1] In the 18th century a group of Ladinos settled on the west bank of the middle Tempisque River, where there was a grove of trees called "sietecueros" (Lonchocarpus costericensi), giving rise to the population that corresponds to the city of Filadelfia, head of the canton.

The oldest population of the canton is Sardinal, proof of this is the mention of the place made by Brother Don Antonio Muñoz, following his visit in late 1794 for a collection of handouts that he performed in several villages of Guanacaste.

[4] In the 1830s, the residents of neighborhoods of Sietecueros and Sardinal, asked the then Head of State, Braulio Carrillo Colina, to be separated from the village of Santa Cruz and to be incorporated into Guanacaste City (now Liberia) in a civil and ecclesiastical way, this request was received when it was issued the Decree No.

The canton borders with Liberia to the north, Santa Cruz to the south, Bagaces to the east and Pacific Ocean to the west.

Rivers Cañas, Bolsón and Tempisque are cantonal boundaries, the first two with Santa Cruz and the last with Liberia and Bagaces.

Due to El Niño and political reasons the production started to decay, causing losses of up to a thousand million colones, and the producers asked the government for a declaration of emergency.