Dererri

The Bribri inhabit the mountainous country of Talamanca, where rivers descend from Costa Rica’s high cordillera toward the Caribbean. Their language belongs to the Chibchan family, and their communities resisted repeated attempts to impose Spanish rule. In 1709 the Bribri leader Pablo Presbere joined the Cabécar leader Comesala in an uprising that brought together several peoples of Talamanca. Spanish missions were destroyed and their occupants driven away, though a later counterattack captured Presbere.