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Vital Statistics & Descriptions Of Costa Rica
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| Beach At Flamingo, Costa Rica |
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Costa Rica Facts
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Area - 50,895 square kilometers
Capital - San Jose (pop. 300,000) |
Population - Four million
Language - Spanish |
Location - Central American between Nicaragua and Panama (between 8 and 11 degrees north of the equator)
Currency - Colon (Floats, currently $1 US = about 519 in coins up to 500 & notes of 1,000, 5,000, 10,000
Religion - More than 90 percent of Costa Ricans are Roman Catholic.
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Geography of Costa Rica |
The country is divided by a backbone of
volcanoes and mountains, an extension of the Andes-Sierra Madre chain
which runs along the western side of the Americas. Costa Rica has four
distinct cordilleras or mountain ranges -- Guanacaste and Tilaran in
the north, Central and Talamanca in the south. Costa Rica is part of
the Pacific "Rim of Fire" and has seven of the isthmus's 42 active
volcanoes plus dozens of dormant or extinct cones. Earth tremors and
small quakes shake the country from time to time.
The last major quake hit on April 22, 1991. Centered on the
Caribbean side southeast of San Jose, it measured 7.4 on the Richter
scale. The country's highest point is Mt. Chirripo (3,797 meters).
The capital, San Jose, and the neighboring major cities of Alajuela and
Heredie lies in the middle of the Meseta Central (Central Valley).
Almost two-thirds of the nation's population live in this small,
fertile valley. The Pacific coastal plain is much narrower than its
Caribbean counterpart. Both coasts are lined with white and black sand
beaches.
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Costa Rica's Climate |
| Costa Rica is a tropical country which
contains several distinct climatic zones. There is no winter or summer
as such and most regions have a rainy season from May to November and a
dry season from December to April. Annual rainfall averages 100 inches
nationwide with some mountainous regions getting as much as 25 feet on
exposed eastern slopes. Temperature is more a matter of elevation than
location with a mean of around 72 degrees in the Central Valley, 82
degrees on the Atlantic coast and 89 degrees on the Pacific coast.
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A Brief History of Costa Rica |
Human habitation can be traced back more than
10,000 years but it appears Costa Rica was sparsely populated and a
relative backwater in the pre-Columbian era. There is little sign of
major communities and none of the impressive stone architecture that
characterized the more advanced civilizations of Mesoamerica to the
north and the Andes to the south. When Columbus arrived near LimĒn on
September 18, 1502 on his third and last voyage to the Americas, there
were probably no more than 20,000 indigenous inhabitants They lived in
several autonomous tribes, all with distinct cultures and customs.
Costa Rica's only major archaeological site is at Guayabo, 30 miles
east of San Jos, where an ancient city, dating back to 1000 B.C. and
though to have contained 10,000 people at its peak, is currently being
excavated. Many interesting gold, jade and pottery artefacts have been
found throughout the region and are on display in several museums in
San Jose.
The Indians gave Columbus gold and he returned to Europe with
reports of a plentiful supply of the yellow metal. But the adventurers
who arrived to cash in found only hostile Indians, swamps and disease
for their trouble. Several early attempts to colonize the Atlantic
coast failed for the same reasons and for almost half a century Costa
Rica was passed over while colonization gathered pace in countries to
the north and south. In 1562, the Spanish main's administrative center
in Guatemala sent Juan Vasquez de Coronado to Costa Rica as governor
and Cartago was established as the capital the following year. With no
Indian slaves to work the land, the colonists were forced to work the
land themselves, scratching out a meagre subsistence by tilling small
plots. The impoverished colony grew slowly and was virtually ignored by
the Spanish rulers in Guatemala. By the late 18th century, the
settlements that would buela had been founded and exports of wheat and
tobacco were making economic conditions somewhat better.
Central America gained independence from Spain on September
15, 1821. The news reached Costa Rica a month after the event. The
question of whether Costa Rica should join newly independent Mexico or
join a new confederation of Central American states resulted in a
bitter quarrel between the leaders of San Jose and their counterparts
in Cartago and Heredia. A brief civil war in 1823 was won by San Jose
and Costa Rica joined the confederation.
Juan Mora Fernandez was elected the country's first head of
state in 1824. His progressive administration expanded public education
and encouraged the cultivation of coffee with land grants for growers.
This quickly led to the establishment of a new Costa Rican elite, the
coffee barons, who quickly put their power to use by overthrowing the
first Costa Rican president, Jos Maria Castro. His successor, Juan
Rafael Mora, is remembered as the man who mobilized a force of Costa
Rican volunteers and defeated William Walker, ending the persistent
North American adventurer's ambitions to turn Central America into a
slave state and annex it to the United States.
After more than a decade of political turmoil, General Tom s
Guardia seized power in 1870. Though he ruled as a military dictator,
his 12 years in power were marked by progressive policies like free and
compulsory primary education, restraining the excesses of the military
and taxing coffee earnings to finance public works. It was Guardia who
contracted Minor Keith to build the Atlantic railroad from San Jose to
the Caribbean. The post-Guardia years witnessed the fitful transition
to full democracy.
The next important era began with the election of Dr. Rafael
Angel CalderĒn Guardia in 1940. His enlightened policies included land
reform, a guaranteed minimum wage and progressive taxation. But when
CalderĒn's United Social Christian Party refused to step down after
losing the 1948 election, civil war erupted. The anti-CalderĒn forces
were led by Jose MarĄa (Don Pepe) Figueres Ferrer who had been exiled
to Mexico in 1942. Supported by the governments of Guatemala and Cuba,
he won the war which lasted 40 days and cost 2,000 lives.
Figueres became head of the Founding Junta of the Second
Republic of Costa Rica. He consolidated the reforms introduced by
CalderĒn and introduced many of his own: He banned the Communist Party,
gave women the vote and granted full citizenship to blacks, abolished
the armed forces, established a term limit for presidents and
nationalized the banks and insurance companies. He also founded the
Partido de Liberacion Nacional. (The PLN won last year's presidential
election behind Don Pepe's son, now President Jose MarĄa Figueres
Olsen.
Don Pepe died in 1990 a national hero, his deeds having set
the scene for the social and economic progress that would earn Costa
Rica the reputation as a peaceful and stable island of democracy in one
of the world's most politically unstable, and often war-torn regions.
When civil war broke out in neighboring Nicaragua, Costa Rica was drawn
reluctantly into the conflict, its northern zone being used as a base
first for Sandinista and later for "contra" forces. In 1986, a young
lawyer called Oscar Arias Sanchez was elected president on the platform
of peace. Arias' tireless efforts to promote peace in the region were
rewarded when the five Central American presidents signed his peace
plan in Guatamala City in 1987, an achievement that earned him the
Nobel Peace Prize.
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Costa Rica's Government |
Costa Rica is a democratic republic. Under
the 1949 constitution, all citizens are guaranteed equality before the
law, the right to own property, the right of petititon and assembly,
freedom of speech and the right of habeas corpus. The constitution also
divides the government into independent executive, legislative and
judicial branches. The executive branch is composed of the president,
two vice presidents and a cabinet. The legislature is the National
Assembly, composed of 57 members (diputados) elected by proportional
representation. National elections are held every four years, on the
first Sunday of February. Under a constitutional amendment enacted in
1969, a president may serve only one four-year term during his
lifetime. Diputados also are elected for four years and may serve a
second term four years after the first ends. The largest political
party is the National Liberation Party (PLN). Its main rival is the
more conservative Social Christian Unity Party.
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| Bill Points Out Cortez Waterfall In Costa Rica |
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| Thermal Water Hot Springs In Costa Rica |
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