ABSTRACT
The Bribri and the Cabécar live in six tropically forested reservations along the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of the Talamanca Mountains in southeastern Costa Rica. At the time of their first contacts with Spaniards (1502), these peoples appear to have inhabited the Matina Valley on the Caribbean coast (Stone 1977:165). Fleeing from Spanish settlers, they settled in Talamanca. In 1605, captain Diego de Sojo y Peñaranda succeeded in overpowering them and founding Santiago de Talamanca, which became the first Franciscan mission in the area (Fernández Guardia 1975:168).
