When Mexico rebelled against Spain in 1821, Costa Rica and the rest of Central America followed suit. Two years later, a faction in Costa Rica even opted to become part of Mexico, sparking a civil war in the country's center between four neighboring cities. After the republican cities of San Jose and Alajuela soundly defeated the pro-Mexican Heredia and Cartago, sovereignty was established.

The first head of state was Juan Mora Fernandez, elected in 1824. Best remembered for his land reforms, Fernandez followed a progressive course but inadvertantly created an elite class of powerful coffee barons. The barons later overthrew the nation's first president, Jose Maria Castro, who was succeeded by Juan Rafael Mora. It was under Mora's leadership that Costa Rican volunteers managed to repulse a would-be conqueror, the North American William Walker.

Walker was a disgruntled southerner who thought that the United States should annex Central America and turn it into a slave state. He was a lunatic, and a dangerous rather than charming one. With a piecemeal army of about 50 men, Walker had earlier invaded Mexico, where he had been captured and then released back to the States. Not to be discouraged, he next invaded Panama, where he briefly seized control before being forced to flee--into Costa Rica. After his bid for despotic rule there was defeated by Mora's forces, the indomitable Walker turned his attentions to Honduras. The Hondurans, unlike their predecessors on Walker's list, captured him, and Walker was finally and summarily executed.

Military rule has reared its head in Costa Rica from time to time, though it has not been marked by the sort of violent extremism that has occurred elsewhere in Central America. In 1870, when General Tomas Guardia seized control of the government, he made some of the country's most progressive reforms in education, military policy, and taxation.