[3] Founded in 1854 by Philipp J. J. Valentini[4] and officially established as a district in 1870 during the Liberal State, Limón is the only planned city in the country built in the 19th century.

The Port of Limón, located just South downtown, receives both cargo and cruise ships, though plans to convert it into a passenger terminal are underway.

On 25 September 1502, Colón recalls landing on a town named by the locals as Cariay, with the nearby Quiribrí island just offshore.

[10][11] It is one of the main communities of Afro-Costa Ricans in the country, mainly as a result of people of Jamaican descent arriving for the construction of the Atlantic railroad in the country,[12] and a subsequent travel ban from the central government, which limited people of Afro-Caribbean origin to move outside of the Limón Province.

Limón faces numerous problems, with the main one being the skyrocketing crime, as drug cartels confluence in the city due to its port being an important part of their drug-trafficking schemes, resulting in an alarming murder rate.

Notorious pirates, Edward Mansvelt and his vice admiral Henry Morgan, arrived at Portete, a small bay between Limón and Moín, in 1666.

They proceeded inland to Cartago, the capital of Costa Rica at the time, but were driven away by the inhabitants at Turrialba on 15 April.

[20][21] During World War II, as part of the Operation Neuland, German U-boat U-161 attacked San Pablo, a ship that was being unloaded in Limón, on 3 July 1942.

[26] It elevated the coastline by around 1.85 meters in some areas of Limón,[27] cracked the streets open,[28] and destroyed many buildings, most notably the Las Olas Hotel, located in the northern shore of the city.

Slave trading was common in all the countries conquered by Spain, and in Costa Rica, the first Africans seem to have come from specific sources in Africa– Equatorial and Western regions.

The enslaved were from what is now the Gambia (Wolof), Guinea (Malinké), Ghanaian (Ashanti), Benin (specifically Ije / Ararás), and Sudan (Puras).

In 1910, Marcus Mosiah Garvey travelled to Puerto Limón, where he worked as a time-keeper for the United Fruit Company for some months, observing that the population of African descent suffered poor conditions.

[37][38] The descendants of Africans in Costa Rica have endured discrimination including a delay in voting rights and a restriction on their movements.

[48] She was already a candidate for the municipal elections that took place a month later, winning and extending her governing period until 2028, becoming the first female mayor-elect in the city.

[49] Limón is Costa Rica's main port, as nearly 90% of the country's imports and exports move through the two harbors located in Moín.

This route connects Limón to the neighboring districts of Matama and Valle La Estrella, to the Talamanca canton, and in turn, to Panama through the Sixaola River bridge.

[58] Another artist is Édgar León, born in San José but raised in Limón, his early paintings depicted landscapes from the city.

[63] Puerto Limón is famous in Costa Rica for its yearly fall carnival which occurs the week of 12 October, on the eve of Columbus Day.

The event was started by local community leader and activist, Alfred Josiah Henry Smith, also known as "Mister King", who helped organize the first carnival in October 1949.

Previous artists have included Eddy Herrera (2002), Damian Marley (2003), El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico (2005), and T.O.K.

[66][67][68] The situation led to a bottle-neck in trash removal, which, combined with the major dengue breakout, caused organizers to cancel 2008's carnaval as a precautionary measure.

[20] Given the severity of the situation, the city bought land in nearby Santa Rosa and, in April 2009, opened its landfill (called El Tomatal).

[citation needed] The gastronomy of Limón diverges significantly from that of the rest of Costa Rica, and has very close ties to the Jamaican cuisine given the deep relations between the country and the Afro-Costa Ricans in the city.

However, there is a large amount of the local population, predominantly those of Afro-Caribbean origins, who speak an English-based creole commonly known as Mekatelyu, considered a dialect of Jamaican Patois, given the ties between Jamaica and most Afro-Costa Rican people.

Linguist Juan Diego Quesada Pacheco pointed that the Limonese Creole has been historically neglected, as it is spoken by more people than local indigenous languages, yet it has less support by government authorities.

[73] One of the most prominent writers from Limón is Joaquín Gutiérrez, known for novellas such as Cocorí, which is taught in Costa Rican primary schools, although it has raised controversies due to its allegedly racist tone.

Afro-Costa Rican politicians such as Epsy Campbell Barr and Maureen Clarke have been critical of the book and requested its exclusion from the public-education mantadory readings.

[77] Mamita Yunai, written by Carlos Luis Fallas, is a semi-autobiographical novel which denounces the poor working conditions in the banana plantations in Limón and nearby areas under the United Fruit Company.

The city was represented by the Limon Gymnastics Society (In Spanish: Sociedad Gimnástica Limonense) at the first season of the Costa Rican Primera División, also taking part in the first match ever played.

[86] Besides Cayasso, three other Limón natives have also scored for Costa Rica at the FIFA World Cup: Winston Parks in 2002,[87] and Keysher Fuller and Yeltsin Tejeda in 2022.