About Costa Rica

Costa Rica - Rich Coast

  Geography

     Costa Rica is a relatively small Central American country situated between Nicaragua on the North and Panama on the south. It is known worldwide for having an incredible diversity of eco-systems within an amazingly small geographical area. Costa Rica is part of a narrow isthmus that connects North and South America. This isthmus was form by volcanic activity at plate boundaries that first formed an archipelago in which, over time, the islands were connected due to constant volcanic activity lava flow. Today Costa Rica is made up of a backbone of mountains and volcanoes that are an extension of the Andes-Sierra Madre mountain chain which runs along the western side of the Americas. Costa Rica's backbone is made up of four separate mountain ranges, or cordilleras. They are the Guanacaste and Tilaran ranges in the north, and the Central and Talamanca ranges in the south and are part of the Pacific Basin's "Rim of Fire. In Costa Rica one can find dozens of dormant or extinct volcanoes and seven of Central America's 42 active volcanoes. Because of the geologically young age of the area there are still occasional tremors and quakes, sometimes being quite strong.

   The highest point in Costa Rica is Mt. Chirripo at 3,797 meters or about 12, 457 feet and is a favorite tourist destination to hike to the peak. Costa Rica's Meseta Central, or Central Valley is at an average height above sea level of 1,149 meters or about 3, 770 feet and is where San Jose, the nation's capital, as well as other of Costa Rica's major cities, are located. About two-thirds of the country's population lives in this central area. The Caribbean side of the country boasts a fairly wide coastal plain and coastal tropical rainforests, and the Pacific side has a much narrower coastal plain and tropical rainforests along with tropical dry forests in the North Guanacaste area. Both coasts are lined with spectacular white and black sand beaches.

   Only 10 degrees north of the equator, Costa Rica is a tropical country but also contains seven distinct climate zones. This is mostly due to elevation and rainfall. Costa Rica's "Summer" is their dry season, from December to April. "Winter", or the rainy season, is from May through November. In recent years Costa Rica's tourist bureau has begun call the rainy season "The Green Season" because rain tended to scare away tourists. In fact, the Green, or rainy season is a beautiful time to spend in Costa Rica with fantastic green foliage and an amazing array of colorful flowers blooming. The average annual rainfall is 100 inches nationwide. Temperature has more to do with elevation than anything else. The Central Valley has an average mean temperature of 72 degrees, with the Caribbean Coast at 82 degrees, and the Pacific Coast with 89 degrees. It can get downright cold up high in the mountains and if you plan to spend time there a jacket or coat is necessary.

      Early History

   While human societies have been around for more than 10,000 years, Costa Rica seems to have been an "intermediate" area between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions. The Northwest area of the country, The Nicoya Peninsula and Guanacaste, was the southernmost point of the Nahuatl culture and the central and southern zones had Chibcha cultural influences. At its height, the Costa Rican indigenous population numbered about 400,000 and was grouped into tribes by areas. Upon Columbus' arrival in 1502, his ship was greeted by inhabitants of the local Carib tribe wearing gold bands in their noses and ears. This led the Spaniard Gil Gonzalez to name the new land Costa Rica, or Rich Coast. By the time Christopher Columbus arrived on his third visit to the America's the indigenous population was already in decline. That population was decimated because of smallpox, previously unknown to the indigenous peoples and brought to the New World by the Spanish, as well as illness and death because of slavery and forced labor by the Spanish. Those who survived did so by fleeing into the mountains and remote areas. After the indigenous slave population died out, or fled, the Spanish brought in African slaves whose descendants still inhabit the Caribbean Coast today. Sadly, people of indigenous heritage only make up about 1% of Costa Rica's population today, most living on reserves that still have inadequate health, education, or utility services.

   Costa Rica, because of its lack of easily exploitable resources, was the least settled colony of Spain in Central America. Area like Mexico and Peru were of far more interest to the Spanish, particularly because of the large amounts of gold and silver that was discovered. The original Spanish settlers to Costa Rica were largely ignored by the mother country and Costa Rica was a tough place to settle. It wasn't until 1562 that the first permanent colonial city, Cartago, was established in Costa Rica. The head of the Spanish colonies was in Guatamala and 1821 Costa Rica grew slowly with small, self-sufficient farms being the norm. Commercial export of wheat and tobacco at the end of the 18th century boosted economic conditions a little.

   On September 15, 1821, Central America gained its independence from Spain. Costa Rica received news of the independence a month after it happened. Costa Ricans argued, and fought about whether Costa Rica should become part of the newly formed Confederation of central American States. There was a short civil war between the republican cities of San Jose and Alejuela, and the pro-mexican cities of Cartago and Heredia in 1823. This was won by San jose and Costa Rica joined the confederation.

   Political History

   Costa Rica's first elected head of state was Juan Mora Fernandez who was elected in 1824. His government was responsible for establishing public education and gave land grants to encourage the cultivation of coffee for exportation. The coffee growers, or "coffee barons" became a new Costa rican elite and organized the overthrow of the first Costa Rican president, Jose Maria Castro who was succeeded by Jayn Rafael Mora. It was at this time that a North American named William Walker, a southerner who was upset with the United States and thought that the the U.S. should annex Central America and turn it into a slave state, went south with an "army" of 50 men to start, and control, own "Central American States" by force. After being captured in Mexico and returned to the U.S. Walker then went on to attempt invasions and takeovers of Panama, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. He was repelled in his attempts, and in Costa Rica was defeated by a force of volunteers that Juan Rafael Mora is remembered for organizing. Juan Santamaria, a drummer boy was also immortalized in Costa Rican history as a national hero. According to tradional account, on April 11, 1856, General Jose Maria Canas, a Salvadoran national, wanted one of his soldiers to set a hostel, where Walker's men were held up, on fire to drive them out. Juan Santamaria volunteered to do this and was fatally injured in doing so. before dying he did advance to the hostel and set on fire and was a major contributor to the Costa Rican victory at Rivas which led to ther driving out of William Walker and his vagabond army. Walker was subsequently captured, and executed in Honduras.

   In 1870, General tomas Guardia seized power and ruled Costa Rica as a military dictator. During his time he did, however, initiate some progressive policies such as free, and compulsory, primary education and taxing coffee earnings to finance public works. Guardia was also responsible for contracting the the atlantic Railroad from San Jose to the Caribbean to be built.
The transition to a full democratic government took place during the years following Guardia's dictatorship.

In 1940, Dr. Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia was elected as president of Costa Rica. It was during his presidency that land reform, a minimum wage, and progressive taxation was introduced. However, after the election of 1948, his United Social Christain Party refused to step down which led to civil war. Jose Maria (Don Pepe) Figueres Ferrer, who had been exiled to Mexico in 1942, returned to lead the anti-Calderon forces. Figueres was supported ny the governments of Guatemala and Cuba and his forces won the war which lasted for 40 days with the loss of 2000 lives.

The Second Republic of Costa Rica was formed with Figueres as the head of the Founding Junta. He accomplished many things such as the consolidation of the Calderon reforms as well as giving women the right to vote, granting full citizenship to blacks, banning the Communist Party, establishing a term-limit for presidents, nationalizing banks and insurance companies, and, what might be his best known reform, abolishing the armed forces (Costa Rica does, however, maintain an armed Coast Guard). He also founded the Partido de Liberacion Nacional.

Figueres subsequently participated in the authoring of a new constitution and stepped down from power to participate in the first election of the new republic, which he won in 1953. Since that first election Costa rica has held 14 presidential elections.

Costa Rica - Rich Coast

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