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  CATIE Centro Agronomica Tropical
Earth University
Esepa Seminary
INCAE
Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica
  Inter-American Institute of Human Rights
Latin American Biblical University
Organization for Tropical Studies
Universidad del Diseño
Universidad de Costa Rica
  Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Universidad Nacional
Universidad Veritas
University for Peace


A Republic of Costa Rica occurs as united states around Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south-southeast, and per Pacific Ocean to the west & south, and per Caribbean Sea to the east. Costa Rica is seen for instance of political stability in a region, & every now and again refered to when the "Switzerland of Central America." Costa Rica has no army.

Geography
Independent article: Geography of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is located on the Central American isthmus, 10° Northerly of the equator and 84° West of the Prime Meridian. It borders two a Caribbean Sea (to a east) and the North Pacific Ocean (to the west), with the amount of 1,290km of coastline (212km on the Caribbean coast & 1016km on the Pacific).

Costa Rica likewise borders Nicaragua to the north (309km of border) & Panama to the south-southeast (639km of border). Inside amount, Costa Rica is 51,100 kilometre,² of which 50,610 kilometer² is l& and 440 kilometre² is water supply, making it slightly little than the U.S. state of West Virginia and about half the size of Ireland.

A greatest point in the united states is Cerro Chirripo, with 3,810 m (some 12,515 feet), a 2nd greatest peak inside Central United states of america, when Volcan Tajumulco in Guatemala. A greatest volcano in the united states is the Irazú Volcano (3,431 m or 11,257 feet).

Costa Rica besides is many islands. Cocos Island stands out because of its distance from either continental landmass (Xxiv kilometre², Five hundred kilometre from either Puntarenas coast), but Chira Island is the biggest island of the united states (52 kilometer²).

A big flow of any stream around Costa Rica is Lake Arenal.

A united states is extremely recognized & praised for its national park system: a developed & progressive technique which stresses in ecotourism. Costa Rica protects on top 25% of its national territory inside national parks.

History of Costa Rica
Independent article: History of Costa Rica

Within 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 a Isthmo-Colombian area, defined by the presence of groups that spoke Chibchan languages. These groups come too believed to use at times created the Stone spheres of Costa Rica, between 200 BC and AD 1600.

Pre-Columbian Ceramics from Nicoya, Costa Rica

A native population of the Mayans and Aztecs were conquered by Spain in the 16th century. Costa Rica was so a Southmost province in the Spanish territory of New Spain. A provincial capital was inside Cartago.

When briefly joining a 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. Within 1824, the capital moved to San José. From either a 1840s on, Costa Rica was an independent nation.

Costa Rica has avoided good deal of the violence that has plagued Central Us. Since a late 19th century only two brief periods of violence stand marred its popular development. Within 1949, José Figueres Ferrer abolished the army; and since so Costthe Rica has been one of a pack countries to work inside a popular patterns while forgoing a assistance of a military machine.

is a rapidly expanding industry.

Politics
Independent article: Politics of Costa Rica

Costa Rica occurs as democratic republic with a hard rules of constitutional checks & balances. Executive responsibilities come vested within the president, who is the united states's center of power. There too come 2 vice presidents & a 15-member cabinet that includes one of the vice presidents. A president & 57 Legislative Assembly deputies are elected for Quadruplet-month terms. The constitutional amendment approved inside 1969 limited presidents and deputies to 1 term, although the deputy can begin once again for an Assembly seat when sitting out the term. An amendment to a constitution to allow 2nd presidential terms was proposed & too the constitutionality of the prohibition against another presidential term has been challenged in the courts. Around April 2003 the prohibition wwhen officially recognized, in the extremely polemical guide, as anti-constitutional leaving Óscar Arias (Nobel Peace Prize, 1987) to run for President another period in the coming 2006 elections. Arias is promoter of free streaming streaming trade & supports a free trade agreement sustaining a United States which is a source of a great disputation that can acquire within protests as much as the united states in the coming months. Costthe Rica utilizes a form of proportional representation to elect its national legislative body.

Governors appointed per president head a united states's 7 provinces, however it exercise little power. No provincial general assembly. Autonomous state agents enjoy considerable operational independence; it include a telecommunications & electrical power monopoly, a nationalized commercial banks, a state insurance monopoly, & a social security professional. Costa Rica has there is no war machine by constitution & maintains exclusively farm police force & private security force for internal security.

Watch likewise: Military of Costa Rica

Provinces
Independent article: Provinces of Costa Rica

Costa Rica consists of seven provinces:

  • Alajuela (central; northerly of capital San José)
  • Cartago
  • Guanacaste (north-west)
  • Heredia
  • Limón
  • Puntarenas (along most of a Pacific coast, using the big hump south-west & the little 1 at the northern prevent at each sides of the Golfo de Nicoya, where a homonymic capital is placed)
  • San José (Area around capital)

    Economy
    Independent article: Economy of Costa Rica

    Costa Rica's economy is dependent on eco-tourism, agriculture, and electronics exportation. A economy emerged from either recession in 1997 and has since shown hard incubation. Costa Rica's location in the Central American isthmus provides easy access to Western markets when it hwhen a equivalent period zone as central United states & directly ocean access to Europe & Asia.

    the economy has been booming for Costa Rica because the food and drug administration experienced implemented a vii season project of expansion in the high technology industry. It use revenue enhancement exemptions for victims world health organization come unforced to invest in the united states. By having their high level of enlightened residents, it produce an attractive investing location. Many spherical high technology corporations use at times already began getting in the area exporting goods.

    A unit of currency is the colón (CRC), which trades around 450-500 to the US dollar; currently astir 600 to the euro.

    Fauna and flora

    Anhinga drying its feathers

    Costthe Rica is page to a rich kind of plants and animals. When a united states has simply astir Zero.1% of the globe's land mass, it contains 5% of the globe's biodiversity. Costa Rica has there is 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. Complete 25% of Costa Rica is composed of secure forests and reserves.

    Of these national park that is internationally noted among ecologists for its biodiversity (including big cats & tapirs) & in which visitant might require to understand an abundance of wildlife is the Corcovado National Park.

    Tortuguero National Park is residence to spider, howler and White-throated Capuchin monkeys, the Three-toed sloth, 32Mintage of birds (including eight mintage of parrots), and the kind of reptiles.

    A Monteverde Cloud Outdoors Reserve hosts 2,000 plant mintage including many orchids. On top 800 types of bird may be encountered on this text, besides when complete Century metal money of mammal.

    Besides view: Wildlife of Costa Rica List of Birds of Costa Rica

    Demographics
    Independent article: Demographics of Costa Rica

    In the central a shcome of the united states, virtually all population are of European descent. A pure autochthonic people in todays world totals all about 29,000, to a lesser degree of these percent of the people. Within Guanacaste, virtually all of the people descends from either the mix of the Chorotega Indians, Bantu Africans & Spaniards. Descendent of nigrify 19th-century Jamaican immigrant workers be an English-speaking minority & at 3 percent of the people total just about 96,000. Costa Ricans of mestizo and European descent account for a united 94 percent. An additional of these percent is ethnically Chinese.

    Now there is a growing total of Amerindians world health organization migrate for seasonal operate chance when farming workers in the main south-eastern border area sustaining Panama. A first class action of immigrants within Costa Rica come Nicaraguans, who represent ten percent of the people. Virtually all of the babies were originally refugees from either civil war during a late 1970s & Eighties, however when the Esquipulas Peace Agreement an increasing number of Nicaraguans continue to migrate into Costa Rica due to economic reasons. There exists besides the growing total of Colombian, Panamanian and Peruvian immigrants.

    http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~bzimmerm/Costa_Rica/images/mjrs.jpg

    Culture
    Independent article: Culture of Costa Rica

    Inside Costa Rica, a locals refer to themselves when "Tico" (maje) or mae (rather "man" (actually maje means "dumb") idiom within the super popular & "only with close friends" way), or even "Tica" (female). A "Tico" ideal is that of a super friendly, helpful, placed back, unhurried, enlightened & environmentally caring humans, by owning little worry for even deadlines or the "normal" stresses of United States life. Visitant from either a United States come typically known as "Gringos," which is virtually universally congenial inside nature and severity.

    As a matter of fact ticos was a title from a rest of centralamericans world health organization utilized to hear the children prevent several words by owning the "-ico" diminutive suffix, such as "un momentico" which is within the short moment, or even "platico" which occurs as little dish.

    Costthe Rica boasts a varied history. Costa Rica was a point in which a MesoOur contries & South American native cultures met. A northward west of a united states, Nicoya, was the southmost point of Nahuatl cultural influence when a Spanish vanquisher(conquistadores) came in the 16th century. A center & to the south portions of the united states got Chibcha influences. A indigen, unlike within numerous more Central Western countries, influenced Costa Rica super little since virtually all died from either disease or even mistreatment. A Atlantic coast was populated by having African slaves due to the practice of enslavement in the Seventeenth & Eighteenth centuries. Additionally, when you took this 19th century hundreds to thousands of Chinese families come to a united states to operate on the construction of the railroad body connecting the urban populations of the Central Plateau to the port of Limon on the Caribbean.

    Art

    Famous Costa Ricans
    Franklin Chang Diaz, astronaut Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace Prize winner (1987) & Costa Rica President (1986-1990) Claudia Poll, Olympic Gold Medallist Chavela Vargas, singer Maribel Guardia, singer, actress, model


  • Regional: Central America: Costa Rica: Education






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