Facts and Figures
Population 4,016,200
Capital City: San Jose (300,000)
Currency: Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
Languages Spanish (official), English
National Day September 15
Religions Catholic (76.3%), Evangelical (13.7%), none (3.2%), others
Coastline 802 miles (1,290 km)
Population 4,016,200
Population & Density (all countries) here
Capital City San Jose (300,000)
Currency Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
Currency Converter here
Languages Spanish (official), English
National Day September 15
Religions Catholic (76.3%), Evangelical (13.7%), none (3.2%), others
(land) 19,560 sq miles (50,660 sq km)
(water) 170 sq miles (440 sq km)
(TOTAL) 19,730 sq miles (51,100 sq km)
Landforms Most of Costa Rica is dominated by the Sierra Madre mountains,
literally fractured into individual ranges and valleys by violent volcanic
eruptions over eons of time.
And speaking of volcanoes, the country's most active one (cone-shaped Arenal),
located in the Tilaran Mountains erupts in some measure almost everyday. To the
southeast, the Poas, Barva, Irazu and many other volcanoes form the Central
Mountain's most spectacular landforms, while the higher Talamanca Mountains
front its southern border with Panama.
The heavily-forested northern plains (to the south of Lake Nicaragua) stretch
eastward along the San Juan River, then push southward through the rain forest
edges of the Central Mountains, and on to the sandy beaches of the Caribbean
coastline.
Costa Rica's beach-covered Pacific coastline is quite narrow, and indented with
many small bays, as well as the Gulf of Dulce and the Gulf of Nicaya, both
protected by hook-shaped peninsulas. In the west, those beaches rise abruptly
into the coastal hills of the mountains.
Many dozens of rivers drain the land; the Chirripa, Frio, General, San Juan and
Tempisque are indicated on the map above.
Highest Pt. Cerro Chirripo - 12,500 ft. (3,810 m)
Lowest Pt. Pacific Ocean - 0 ft. (0 m)
Land Divisions 7 provinces; including Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia,
Limon, Puntarenas and San Jose.
On his final voyage to the New World in 1502, Christopher
Columbus came ashore on Costa Rica's Caribbean coastline (near Limon) and the
indigenous Indians presented him with an offering of gold.
The lure of riches in the Americas was a strong magnet for European adventures
of-the-day, but those that ventured to Costa Rica were confronted by an
inhospitable landscape of coastal swamps and hostile Indians tribes - and most
did not survive.
The Spanish persisted, and by the mid-16th century a few small settlements were
successfully established; Cartago was declared the capital, and the colony was
ruled by a governor appointed by the Spanish empire’s regional capital of
Guatemala.
Unlike neighboring colonies, Costa Rica was slow to grow, and remained a
collection of subsistence farmers for the next two centuries. With very few
exports of real value, it quietly remained off the radar screen of the Spanish
Crown.
After the overthrow of the Spanish King by Napoleon, Costa Rica and others
declared their independence from Spain in 1821. Then, Costa Rica, as well as El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua formed the United Provinces of
Central America, but that federation quickly dissolved, and Costa Rica became an
independent state in 1838.
Juan Mora Fernandez (the first head of state) encouraged the cultivation of
coffee, and over time the powerful coffee barons helped finance a political
revolution that would change the country forever.
Over the next century an assortment of presidents and ambitious military
dictators came and went, but for the most part, Costa Rica avoided the chaos of
bloody coups, rebellions and citizen revolts endemic to other Central American
countries.
In
the mid-1900s, democracy was the order-of-the-day, but when the United Social
Christian Party refused to leave power after losing the 1948 general election,
civil war was in the wind.
The opposition in that brief 40-day uprising was led by Jose Marˇa (Don Pepe)
Figueres Ferrerhe, and in the end he founded a new republic; banned the
Communist Party; women could vote; blacks gained citizenship; and in a brilliant
stroke of governing he abolished the armed forces (what a concept) and
established a term limit for all future presidents.
When Don Pepe died in 1990 (a justifiable national hero to this day) his
innovative leadership had earned Costa Rica an enviable international reputation
as a peaceful, stable democracy in a region of instability.
Today, driven by agricultural products (especially coffee), and strong tourism
and technology industries, Costa Rica enjoys a high standard of living, and
remains the true success story of Central America.