The Costa Rica Portal

Introduction

Republic of Costa Rica
República de Costa Rica (Spanish)
Anthem: "Himno Nacional de Costa Rica" (Spanish)
"National Anthem of Costa Rica"
ISO 3166 codeCR

Costa Rica (UK: /ˌkɒstə ˈrkə/, US: /ˌkstə-/ ; Spanish: [ˈkosta ˈrika]; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in the Central American region of North America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as maritime border with Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around five million0 in a land area of nearly 51,180 km2 (19,760 sq mi). An estimated 352,381 people live in the capital and largest city, San José, with around two million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.

The sovereign state is a presidential republic. It has a long-standing and stable constitutional democracy and a highly educated workforce. The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%. Its economy, once heavily dependent on agriculture, has diversified to include sectors such as finance, corporate services for foreign companies, pharmaceuticals, and ecotourism. Many foreign manufacturing and services companies operate in Costa Rica's Free Trade Zones (FTZ) where they benefit from investment and tax incentives.

Costa Rica was inhabited by indigenous peoples before coming under Spanish rule in the 16th century. It remained a peripheral colony of the empire until independence as part of the First Mexican Empire, followed by membership in the Federal Republic of Central America, from which it formally declared independence in 1847. Following the brief Costa Rican Civil War in 1948, it permanently abolished its army in 1949, becoming one of only a few sovereign nations without a standing army. (Full article...)

The Costa Rica Quiz

 Of the 500,000 species of life that Costa Rica is home to, how many are icon insects?

Hint
It's probably more than you think it is.
Answer
300,000 species are insects.[1]
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Monument in memory of those who died in the Civil War of 1948, located in Ernesto Zumbado park in Santa María de Dota.

The Costa Rican Civil War took place from 12 March to 24 April 1948. The conflict followed the presidential elections of 8 February 1948, in which opposition candidate Otilio Ulate defeated the ruling party's Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia. The pro-government representatives who dominated the Legislative Assembly alleged that that Ulate's victory was fraudulent, and on 1 March, the legislature voted to annul the results of the election. This triggered an armed uprising led by José Figueres Ferrer, a businessman who had not participated in the elections, against the government of President Teodoro Picado.

The uprising was resisted by the small, ill-equipped Costa Rican army and, more significantly, by the militias of the Communist People's Vanguard Party, which was part of the governing coalition in the Legislative Assembly and had voted to annul the presidential elections. Figueres' rebels rapidly defeated the government forces and their Communist allies, forcing President Picado to step down and leave the country along with former president Calderón Guardia. About 2,000 people are believed to have died during the war, making it the bloodiest event in 20th-century Costa Rican history. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated)

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...that the Irazú Volcano in Costa Rica erupted violently in 1963, on the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy arrived in the country?

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Costa Rica news

29 July 2024 – 2024 Venezuelan presidential election
Venezuela recalls its diplomats in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay after those countries oppose the election results. (TRT World)
Costa Rica news from Wikinews...

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References

  1. ^ "Biodiversity in Costa Rica". Archived from the original on 2011-11-18. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  2. ^ "Compulsory Voting". Internateal IDEA. Retrieved 9 Dec 2023.
  3. ^ State-sponsored Homophobia A world survey of laws prohibiting same sex activity between consenting adults[dead link] Archived 17 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Trejos, Alonso (1991). Geografía Ilustrada Costa Rica (in Spanish). San José, Costa Rica: Trejos Editores. p. 128. ISBN 9977-54-029-2.