In 1522, Don Gil González Dávila was the first Spanish visitor to the region, journeying from Burica to the indigenous village of Avancari (now Abangaritos , in the canton of Puntarenas).

In 1561, Don Juan de Cavallón y Arboleda, was commissioned by the Royal Audiencia of Guatemala to conquer the province of Nuevo Cartago and Costa Rica.

In 1574, Alonso Anguciana de Gamboa, acting governor, relocated citizens of the town of Aranjuez to found the first seat of the city of Espíritu Santo (5 km from the current site of Esparza), in the valley then known as Coyoche, between the Barranca and Jesus Maria rivers, near the present village of Artieda.

There the citizens constructed a small chapel, and shortly afterwards the convent of San Lorenzo, whose first priest was Fray Diego de Guillon.

In 1577 (a year later), the governor of the province, Diego de Artieda y Chirino, established the port of Caldera, replacing Landecho.

He did this in memory of his hometown, the village of Esparza, located in the valley of Salazar, in Navarra, Spain, 80 km from the capital of the province, Pamplona.

Between 1622 and 1629 the second and final seat of the Ciudad del Espíritu Santo de Esparza was established about five kilometers northwest of its original location.

In 1870, during the second administration of Jesús Jiménez Zamora, the first co-educational public school was opened, and was directed by his wife, Clotilde V. Fernandez de Mora.

On 26 February 1840, Braulio Carrillo Colina reinstated Puntarenas by decree as a commercial trade port of Costa Rica.

In 1877 the first municipality, composed of Ignacio Pérez (in whose honor the current central city park was named), Felipe Herrera and Marcelino Zuniga, opened.