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República de Costa Rica
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National motto: ¡Pura vida!
(Popular saying translating roughly to "This is living!")
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| Official language
| Spanish (Official), (English coast)
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| Capital
| San José
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| President
| Abel Pacheco
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Area
- Total
- % water
| Ranked 125th
51,100 km²
0.7%
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Population
- Total (2005 E)
- Density
| Ranked 122nd
4,016,173
81.40/km²
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GDP (PPP)
- Total (2003):
- GDP/head:
| Ranked 73rd
$38 billion
$9,490
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| HDI (2003) | 0.838 (47th) – high
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| Independence
- Date
| From Spain
September 15, 1821
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| Currency
| colón (CRC)
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| Time zone
| UTC -6
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| National anthem
| Noble patria, tu hermosa bandera
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| Internet TLD
| .cr
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| Calling Code
| 506
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The Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south-southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. Costa Rica is seen as an example of political stability in the region, and is sometimes referred to as the "Switzerland of the Americas". Costa Rica was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish the army.
Contents
- 1 History of Costa Rica
- 2 Geography
- 3 Politics
- 4 Provinces
- 5 Economy
- 6 Flora and Fauna
- 7 Demographics
- 8 Culture
- 9 Famous Costa Ricans
- 10 See also
- 11 Reference
- 12 External links
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In Pre-Columbian times the Native Americans in what is now Costa Rica were part of the Intermediate Area located between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions. This has recently been redefined to include the Isthmo-Colombian area, defined by the presence of groups that spoke Chibchan languages. These groups are also believed to have created the Stone spheres of Costa Rica, between 200 BC and AD 1600.
The native people of the Mayans and Aztecs were conquered by Spain in the 16th century. Costa Rica was then the southernmost province in the Spanish territory of New Spain. The provincial capital was in Cartago.
After briefly joining the Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide (see: History of Mexico and Mexican Empire), Costa Rica became a state in the United Provinces of Central America (see: History of Central America) from 1823 to 1839. In 1824, the capital moved to San José. From the 1840s on, Costa Rica was an independent nation.
Costa Rica has avoided the violence that has plagued Central America. Since the late 19th century only two brief periods of violence have marred its democratic development. In 1949, José Figueres Ferrer abolished the army; and since then Costa Rica has been one of the few countries to operate within the democratic system without the assistance of a military.
Pre-Columbian Ceramics from Nicoya, Costa Rica Costa Rica (Spanish for "Rich Coast"), although still a largely agricultural country, has achieved a relatively high standard of living. Land ownership is widespread and Electronics is a rapidly expanding industry.
Geography
Rich Coast: fishermen set sail near Quepos, on the Pacific coast.
Costa Rica is located on the Central American isthmus, 10° North of the equator and 84° West of the Prime Meridian. It borders both the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the North Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,290 km of coastline (212km on the Caribbean coast and 1016 km on the Pacific).
Costa Rica also borders Nicaragua to the north (309 km of border) and Panama to the south-southeast (639 km of border). In total, Costa Rica comprises 51,100 km², of which 50,610 km² is land and 440 km² is water, making it slightly smaller than the U.S. state of West Virginia and about half the size of Ireland.
The highest point in the country is Cerro Chirripo, with 3,810 m (approximately 12,515 feet), the second highest peak in Central America, after Volcan Tajumulco in Guatemala. The highest volcano in the country is the Irazú Volcano (3,431 m or 11,257 feet).
Costa Rica also comprises several islands. Cocos Island stands out because of its distance from continental landmass (24 km², 500 km from Puntarenas coast), but Calero Island is the biggest island of the country (151.6 km²).
The largest lake in Costa Rica is Lake Arenal. The country is highly recognized and praised for its national park system: a developed and progressive system which stresses on ecotourism. Costa Rica protects over 25% of its national territory within national parks.
Politics
Costa Rica is a democratic republic with a strong system of constitutional checks and balances. Executive responsibilities are vested in a president, who is the country's center of power. There also are two vice presidents and a 15-member cabinet that includes one of the vice presidents. The president and 57 Legislative Assembly deputies are elected for 4-year terms. A constitutional amendment approved in 1969 limited presidents and deputies to one term, although a deputy may run again for an Assembly seat after sitting out a term. An amendment to the constitution to allow second presidential terms was proposed and also the constitutionality of the prohibition against a second presidential term has been challenged in the courts. In April 2003 the prohibition was officially recognized, in a highly polemic resolution, as anti-constitutional allowing Óscar Arias (Nobel Peace Prize, 1987) to run for President a second time in the upcoming 2006 elections. Arias is promoter of free trade and supports the free trade agreement with the United States which is the source of a great controversy that might develop in protests around the country in the upcoming months. Costa Rica uses a form of proportional representation to elect its national legislative body.
Governors appointed by the president head the country's seven provinces, but they exercise little power. There are no provincial legislatures. Autonomous state agencies enjoy considerable operational independence; they include the telecommunications and electrical power monopoly, the nationalized commercial banks, the state insurance monopoly, and the social security agency. Costa Rica has no military by constitution and maintains only domestic police and security forces for internal security.
See also: Military of Costa Rica
Costa Rica consists of seven provinces:
- Alajuela (central; north of capital San José)
- Cartago
- Guanacaste (north-west)
- Heredia
- Limón
- Puntarenas (along most of the Pacific coast, with a large bulge in the south-west and a smaller one at the northern end at both sides of the Golfo de Nicoya, where the homonymous capital is located)
- San José (Area around capital)
Costa Rica's economy is dependent on ,ecotourism, agriculture, and, more recently, electronics exports. Originally having benefited from Nicaraguan expatriates' investment in the early 80's, the economy then emerged from recession in 1997 and has since shown strong growth. Costa Rica's location in the Central American isthmus provides easy access to American markets as it has the same time zone as the central part of the United States and direct ocean access to Europe and Asia.
The economy has been booming for Costa Rica because the Government had implemented a seven year plan of expansion in the high tech industry. They have tax exemptions for those who are willing to invest in the country. With their high level of educated residents, they make an attractive investing location. Several global high tech corporations have already started developing in the area exporting goods.
The unit of currency is the colón (CRC), which trades around 450-500 to the U.S. dollar; currently about 600 to the euro.
Flora and Fauna
Anhinga drying its feathers Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.1% of the world's land mass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity. Costa Rica has no military or navy, but an abundance of wildlife; it has been said that the soldiers are the leaf cutter ants, the pilots are the macaws and the navy ships are the whales. Over 25% of Costa Rica is composed of protected forests and reserves.
One national park that is internationally renowned among ecologists for its biodiversity (including big cats and tapirs) and where visitors can expect to see an abundance of wildlife is the Corcovado National Park.
Tortuguero National Park is home to spider, howler and White-throated Capuchin monkeys, the Three-toed sloth, 320 species of birds (including eight species of parrots), and a variety of reptiles.
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve hosts 2,000 plant species including numerous orchids. Over 800 types of bird can be found here, as well as over 100 species of mammal.
Also see:
- Wildlife of Costa Rica
- List of Birds of Costa Rica
Demographics
Metal church in grecia, Costa Rica on the Rio Savegre just below San Gerardo de Dota in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica Valle Central de Costa Rica old basilica in Cartago, Costa Rica
In the central part of the country, most people are of European descent but some are also Mestizos (to varying degrees). Because of little intermarriage, most of the population today retain European complexions. The pure indigenous population today numbers about 29,000, less than one percent of the population. In Guanacaste, most of the population descends from a mix of the Chorotega Indians, Bantu Africans and Spaniards. Descendants of black 19th-century Jamaican immigrant workers constitute an English-speaking minority and at three percent of the population number about 96,000. Costa Ricans of mestizo and European descent account for a combined 94 percent (the vast majority being of Spanish decent). Another one percent is ethnically Chinese. [[1]] In addtion there are many Americans who either come to retire or move to country to live.
Today there is a growing number of Amerindians who migrate for seasonal work opportunities as agricultural workers mainly in the south-eastern border region with Panama. The most important group of immigrants in Costa Rica are Nicaraguans, who represent ten percent of the population. Most of them were originally refugees from civil war during the late 1970s and 1980s, but after the Esquipulas Peace Agreement an increasing number of Nicaraguans continue to migrate into Costa Rica due to economic reasons. There is also a growing number of Colombian, Panamanian and Peruvian immigrants.
In Costa Rica, the locals refer to themselves as tico, maje or mae (sort of "man", actually maje means "dumb") idiom in a very popular and "only with close friends" way, or tica (female). "Tico" comes from the locally popular usage of "tico" diminutive suffixes (eg. 'momentico' instead of 'momentito'). The tico ideal is that of a very friendly, helpful, laid back, unhurried, educated and environmentally aware people, with little worry for deadlines or the "normal" stresses of United States life. Visitors from the United States are often referred to as gringos, which is virtually always congenial in nature. The phrase "Pura Vida" (literally pure life) is a motto ubiquitous in Costa Rica. It encapsulates the pervading ideology of living in peace in a calm, unflustered manner, appreciating a life surrounded by nature and family and friends.
Costa Rica boasts a varied history. Costa Rica was the point where the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures met. The north west of the country, Nicoya, was the southernmost point of Nahuatl cultural influence when the Spanish conquerors (conquistadores) came in the 16th century. The center and south portions of the country had Chibcha influences. However the Indian people influenced Costa Rica as a whole very little as much of the Indians died from disease and mistreatment of the Spaniards. The Atlantic coast was populated with African slaves due to the practice of enslavement in the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition, during this 19th century thousands of Chinese and Italian families came to the country to work on the construction of the railroad system connecting the urban populations of the Central Plateau to the port of Limon on the Caribbean.
Famous Costa Ricans
- Óscar Arias Sánchez, Nobel Peace Prize winner (1987) and President of the Republic (1986–1990)
- José Figueres Ferrer, National caudillo and President of the Republic (1948–1949, 1953–1958, and 1970–1974.
- Franklin Chang Díaz, Astronaut
- Clodomiro Picado Twight, Toxicologist
- Claudia Poll. Olympic gold medallist
- Juan Santamaría. National hero
- Chavela Vargas, singer
- Maribel Guardia, singer, actress, model
See also
- Art of Costa Rica
- Communications in Costa Rica
- Cuisine of Costa Rica
- Demographics of Costa Rica
- Economy of Costa Rica
- Foreign relations of Costa Rica
- Geography of Costa Rica
- History of Costa Rica
- Language schools in Costa Rica
- List of Presidents of Costa Rica
- Military of Costa Rica
- Museums of Costa Rica
- Music of Costa Rica
- Politics of Costa Rica
- Transportation in Costa Rica
Reference
- Some of the material in these articles comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.
External links
- Wikitravel guide to Costa Rica
- ICT official tourism site (English | Spanish | Deutsch | Français)
- Banco Central de Costa Rica Central Bank Costa Rica
- Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica (In Spanish)
- Costa Rica City Guide - Message Board and Photo Gallery (free site).
- Instituto Costarricense de Turismo Official Costa Rican Tourism Portal
- Links by the government web site
| Countries in Central America
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Search Term: "Costa_Rica"
Categories: Central American countries | Costa Rica |
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LASERCARD FILLS COSTA RICA ORDER
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How One Small Firm Is Expanding Internationally
Law.com via Yahoo! Finance - Mar 20 12:00 AM A firm of about 30 lawyers might seem too small to expand globally, but that's not stopping Zumpano, Patricios & Winker. The Florida-based firm is keeping pace with the stream of commerce by affiliating exclusively with small international firms that are based locally in such business hot spots as Costa Rica, Madrid, Mexico City and, most recently, Milan.
MEXIDATA . INFO
MEXIDATA . INFO - Mar 19 9:46 PM In a result that surprised analysts and pollsters, Costa Rica's February 5 presidential election ended in a tie between the National Liberation Party's (P.L.N.) candidate Oscar Arias and Otton Solis who ran under the banner of his insurgent Citizen's Action Party (P.A.C.), which he formed after he split with the P.L.N. over economic policy.
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OC grad gets hands-on teaching experience in Costa Rica through Penn State program
The Derrick - Mar 14 8:53 PM Sheria Carll and her group researched various environmental concepts as well as a variety of species. Sheria Carll, an Oil City High School graduate and a senior at Penn State, took a break from the traditional classroom setting and opted for some hands-on experience studying in Costa Rica.
Wars give way to tourism
Chicago Sun-Times - Mar 19 2:32 AM BELIZE: www.travel belize.org/ or (800) 624-0686. COSTA RICA: www.visit costarica.com/ or (800) 343-6332.
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