Costa Rica (UK: /ˌkɒstəˈriːkə/, US: /ˌkoʊstə-/i; Spanish:[ˈkostaˈrika]; 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.
The League War was the second civil war of Costa Rica, as a member state of the Federal Republic of Central America. It passed between September and October 1835 in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. Its immediate trigger was the repeal of the "Ambulance Law", the law that established the rotation of the country's capital among the four constituent cities. The most important consequence was the triumph of the city of San José over the cities of Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago (which formed the League of Three Cities, thus the name), which allowed its consolidation as the capital of Costa Rica. (Full article...)
...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 7The 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 41An 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)
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