Note XXVIII-1 — Chapter XXVIII · THE PEOPLE OF COSTA RICA, NICARAGUA, AND SALVADOR. 1800-1887.
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Being an estimated increase since 1877 of 245,847. Salv., Gaceta Ofic., Dec. 4, 1877. The population was computed in 1810 at different figures, none reliable. The one deemed most accurate was as follows: 646,666 Indians, 313,334 mulattoes and some negroes, 40,000 whites, making a total of 1,000,000, probably including 100,000 for Chiapas. Guat., Apuntam., 105, 110; Salv., Diario Ofic., July 2, 1879; Lastarría, in La América, 445; Baily's Cent. Am., 28, 32; Nouv. Annales des Voy., iv. 1820, 36; Ocios de Esp. Emig., v. 2. In 1823 the whole was set down at 1,600,000. Humboldt's Pers. Narr., vi. pt 1, 127, 131. Marure computed it in 1824, giving Costa R. 70,000, Nic. 207,269, Salv. 212,573, Hond. 137,069, and Guat. 660,580; total, 1,287,491. Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., 148, and app. no. 6. G. A. Thompson, Brit. commissioner to Cent. Am., in 1823 estimated 2,000,000 in the following proportions: one fifth of whites, two fifths of mixed classes, and two fifths of Indians. Narr. Official Visit, 451. Galindo, an intelligent officer of the Cent. Am. govt, about 1837 set the population at 685,000 Ind., 740,000 ladinos or mestizos, and 475,000 whites; total, 1,900,000. He evidently overestimated the number of whites. Crowe, Gospel, 40, referring specifically to Guat., estimated the number of pure whites at not over 5,000, which seems to be short of the truth. The proportions he gave were: Indians, three fifths; ladinos or mestizos, one fourth; whites, one fortieth; mulattoes, one eighty-third; negroes, one fiftieth; zambos, one hundredth. It is unnecessary to burden this note with figures for each year after 1837. I will merely append those for 1866, given by a writer who must have got his data from reliable sources: Costa R., 150,000, mostly white, and including from 5,000 to 10,000 Talamanca Indians. According to a Costa Rica census, there were in the republic in 1864 112 persons of 90 years and upwards; of whom 14 were of 100, 4 of 102, one of 103, one of 104, one of 111, one of 117, one of 118, and one of 122. The majority of cases of great longevity were of women. Costa R., Censo, 100-3. Nic., 380,000, of whom 80,000 pure Indians, 30,000 whites, 30,000 negroes, and the rest of mixed breeds, the mestizos of white and Indian predominating on the Pac. coast, and the zambos, or mixture of negro and Indian, on the Atlantic; there were probably 30,000 in Mosquitia; Salv., 750,000; Hond., 300,000; Guat., 1,219,500. Laferrière, De Paris á Guatém., 47, 71, 93, 189, 251; Pim's Gate of the Pac., 37, 75. Other publications treating of the subject from time to time: Costa R., Boletin Ofic., Feb. 9, March 30, 1854; Id., Gaceta, July 15, 1854; Id., Mem. Sec. Interior, 1860 and 1861; Id., Informe Gobern., 1868 and 1874; Id., Censo, 1864; Id., Col. Ley., xxxii. 250-2; Squier's Cent. Am., 21, 45-57, 279, 348, 449, 465, 648-9; Id., Travels, i. 32-3; Molina, Bosq. Costa R., 28-9; Belly, Nic., i. 138-42, 249-54; Rocha, Cód. Nic., i. 185-6; Nic., Registro Ofic., 270, 312, 316, 382; Id., Boletin Ofic., March to Aug. 1862, pass.; Id., Gaceta, Jan. 1863 to Apr. 11, 1874, pass.; Lévy, Nic., 234 et seq.; Salv., Gaceta, Jan. 26 to Nov. 18, 1850; Feb. 3, March 3, 1854; Apr. 1, 1876; May 28 to Nov. 28, 1878; May 18 to Nov. 29, 1879; Crosby's Statem., MS., 93; Wells' Hond., 554-7; Guat., Recop. Ley., i. 473; Guat., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1880-5, with tables; and numerous others.