As the trade in the Tempisque River area increased, the farmers who had farms on both banks of the river had to face a series of administrative obstacles because the territory belonged to two different units. The fluvial route through the Gulf of Nicoya became for the inhabitants of the party an option of transport and commerce more accessible than the terrestrial one, diminishing the dependency of the party of the Nicaraguan populations, and increasing the affinity with Puntarenas. The activity of this port was making feel little by little its economic magnetism over the whole area of the gulf, as a center of demand for agricultural and livestock products, for its trade with the Central Valley and as a contact point to move between the different provinces and viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire, due to the constant arrival of ships from all over the continent. Among the background that led to the annexation, ethnic and socioeconomic factors have also been mentioned. The poorer populations of Santa Cruz and Nicoya were more identified with each other than with the village of Guanacaste, since Nicoya was a city populated mostly by indigenous people and Santa Cruz was inhabited by ladinos, while the inhabitants of Guanacaste were descendants of Spaniards and large landowners. The large cattle ranches were almost all from the Tempisque River to Nicaragua, while the land was more divided between the passage from Diriá to Nicoya. These differences would later be reflected in the result of the vote in the open meeting of July 25, 1824. On March 3, 1824, the government of the State of Costa Rica officially proposed to the municipality of Nicoya its voluntary incorporation into the country, by means of a document inviting her "if it was convenient to meet her Province without opposing wills". On July 4, an open town council was convened in Nicoya to discuss the matter, but attendees declined the invitation on the grounds that "this Party ... can not be a dissident." On July 25, 1824, a second plebiscite was called in the city of Nicoya. After the deliberation, the incorporation into Costa Rica was decided on in the open meeting, drawing up an act in which the main reasons for the same are noted, pointing out the advantages in terms of trade, the desire to participate in the advances that are felt in Costa Rica. Costa Rica, the economic, administrative and public service benefits, the creation of schools, security and quietness, referring to the state of war that Nicaragua lived at that time and the fear that it would spread to the populations of the Party, in addition to point out the indigence in which the towns of the same one and the own geography of the territory are like justifications for the union.