<P> After 1869, Costa Rica established a democratic government . </P> <P> After the Costa Rican Civil War in 1948, the government drafted a new constitution, guaranteeing universal suffrage and the dismantling of the military . Today, Costa Rica is a democracy that relies on technology and eco-tourism for its economy . Although poverty has declined since the turn of the 21st century, economic problems still exist . Costa Rica is facing problems of underemployment, foreign and internal debt, and a trade deficiency . </P> <P> In Pre-Columbian times, the Native Americans in what is now Costa Rica were part of a cultural complex known as the "Intermediate Area," between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions . </P> <P> The northwest of the country, the Nicoya Peninsula, was the southernmost point of Nahuatl cultural influence when the Spanish conquerors (conquistadores) came in the sixteenth century . The central and southern portions of the country had Chibcha influences . The indigenous people have influenced modern Costa Rican culture to a relatively small degree . In the years soon after European encounter, many of the people died due to infectious diseases, such as measles and smallpox, which were endemic among the Europeans but to which they had no immunity . </P>

Who lived in costa rica before the spanish