Costa Rica (UK: /ˌkɒstəˈriːkə/, US: /ˌkoʊstə-/ⓘ; Spanish:[ˈkostaˈrika]; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in the Central American region of
North America. Costa Rica is bordered by
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 51,060 km2 (19,710 sq mi). An estimated 333,980 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
unitarypresidentialconstitutionalrepublic. It has a long-standing and stable 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.
Liberia has been nicknamed la ciudad blanca (the white city) due to the white gravel that was once used to make the city's roads and the whitewashed colonial houses which used to make up a large part of the city. It had a population of 56,899 in 2013. (Full article...)
... that while Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios was exiled from Nicaragua and living in Costa Rica in the 1980s, his sister
Claudia was there as Nicaragua’s ambassador?
...that Pancha Carrasco became Costa Rica's first woman in the military by joining the defending forces at the
Battle of Rivas in 1856 with a rifle and a pocketful of bullets?
Image 2The mangrove hummingbird is endemic to Costa Rica and specializes in feeding from the tea mangrove plant with its uniquely shaped beak. (from Wildlife of Costa Rica)
Image 46An
Intel microprocessor facility in Costa Rica that was, at one time, responsible for 20% of Costa Rican exports and 5% of the country's GDP. (from Costa Rica)
Image 47The extent of Costa Rica's western
EEZ in the Pacific (from Costa Rica)