Carrillo is the fifth canton in the province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica. The canton covers an area of 577.54 km², and has a population of 39,731. Its capital city is Filadelfia. The name of the canton is in honor of former head of stateBraulio Carrillo Colina. The canton is shaped like a boot, with the Pacific Ocean at the top. The Río Tempisque decorates the front of the boot from top to toe. The Río Cañas and Río Bolsón provide the heel and sole.
History
In the 18th century a group of ladinos settled on the west bank of the middleTempisque River, where there was a grove of trees called "sietecueros", giving rise to the population that corresponds to the city of Filadelfia, head of the canton. In Executive Decree No. 22 of June 16, 1877, Carrillo was declared a canton of Guanacaste province. The oldest population of the canton is Sardinal, proof of this is the mention of the place made by BrotherDon Antonio Muñoz, following his visit in late 1794 for a collection of handouts that he performed in several villages of Guanacaste. 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 in a civil and ecclesiastical way, this request was received when it was issued the Decree No. 5 of February 23, 1839. In the school division in 1886, Sardinal was selected as the second school district of the canton in Law No. 60 of August 9, and Filadelfia was selected as part of the first school district. The main high school began his teaching activities in 1965, during the administration of Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich.
Political divisions
The canton of Carrillo is subdivided into four districts :
Names of the Districts
One of the historical aspects of this canton is that none of the districts retained its original name.
Filadelfia, as the district head, was known as "Sietecueros". It is not known why it has the current name.
Palmira district was known as "Boquerones", it has a population of 3974 inhabitants in an area of 37.1 km2.
Belén district was known as "Villita", it has an area of 174.9 km2 and a population of 6071 inhabitants, its name comes in the wake of the festivities that were held each December 25 dedicated to the baby Jesus, since the priest Fray Juan Paz arrived in the community in 1885 and saw the devotion of the people for the Child Jesus of Bethlehem and he proposed the name for that community. The present church was built in 1969 and the park was built in the period 1974-1978.
Sardinal district formerly called "Tamarindo", it is one of the oldest towns, has an area of 240.4 km2 and a population of 10 118 inhabitants, and it is the largest in population and territory of the canton.
Physical Aspects
Geography
The canton borders with Liberia to the north, Santa Cruz to the south, Bagaces to the east and Pacific Ocean to the west.
Demography
The movement of people for these territories are from the party of Nicoya and Nicaragua, possibly gave rise to the towns of Sietecueros, Tamarindo, Boquerones and Villita with people of mixed Spanish and indigenous people.
All these watercourses rise in Carrillo, except for Tempisque and Cañas, these rivers run from northwest to southeast. Rivers Cañas, Bolsón and Tempisque are cantonal boundaries, the first two with Santa Cruz and the last with Liberia and Bagaces.
Economy
During the 1980s and the early 1990s, this canton was one of the main producers of rice and cotton in Costa Rica. 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. This canton also provides more products such as:
Beans
Cotton
Sorghum
Watermelon
Honeydew
In this region highlights two millionaires-income products:
Cantaloupe
Sugarcane
El Viejo Mill, CATSA Mill are in charge of the production of sugar and Melones de Costa Rica is charge of the cantaloupe production.
Tourism
The canton receives revenue from its high tourism-related activities. Its main tourist attractions are the Gulf of Papagayo, Playa Hermosa, Playa Panama, Coco Beach, Playa Ocotal, among others, fishing and diving activities can be performed there. Coco Beach is offering various services such as restaurants and hotels, on the other beaches there are hotels and resorts as "Los Corales", "Condovac La Costa", among others. Tempisque River is another attraction that crosses the canton and passed by the city of Filadelfia, it is possible to practice water sports such as fishing, swimming, and sailing, crossing the most impressive vegetation and observing the various species of flora and wildlife that is around it. This area is the center of archaeological research which has yielded variety of pieces dating back thousands of years, which is why it is known as the National Archaeological Region.
