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Courtesy of National Tourist Board 
COSTA RICA 
In the upland region of Costa Rica, where there occurs the greatest population concentration, the cities and towns 
are connected by highways, while San Jose and other cities of the plateau region are connected by rail with ports 
on both the Atlantic and the Pacific. 
The temperate zone, 3200 to 6500 feet altitude, comprises the central 
plateau formed by the cordillera. Here the climate is healthful and pleasant, 
the temperature ranging from 59 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, while the rainy 
and dry seasons regularly alternate. These highlands are more densely popu¬ 
lated than the two other climatic regions and they produce the best grades of 
coffee, the chief agricultural crop of the country, vegetables, cereals and fruits. 
The cool zone, comprising lands over 6500 feet altitude, is the least extensive 
of the three and also the least populated. Here the mountains attain their 
full height and break up the country into rough divisions where agriculture 
is carried on only with difficulty. The temperature varies from 41 to 59 
degrees Fahrenheit and the air is exceptionally dry. Water springs and 
waterfalls are to be found everywhere while many of the mountains are cov¬ 
ered to their tops with grass. This region produces the best grades of cattle 
for milk and meat production; fruit and vegetables are also produced, but on 
?. minor scale. 
Costa Rica is provided with an extensive network of rivers. Because of the 
mountainous sources of these waterways, water power is almost unlimited. 
On the northeastern slopes of the cordillera, all rivers flow into the Rio San 
Juan which drains Lake Nicaragua into the Caribbean Sea; the most im¬ 
portant of these tributaries is the Rio San Carlos. In the northeastern part 
of the country there are extensive plains producing a dense vegetation; they 
stretch from Puerto Limon to the Nicaraguan border and are traversed by 
several streams, chiefly the Rio Parisimina and its branch, the Rio Reventazon. 
There is a smaller level region in the southeast which is drained by the Rio 
Sixaola. On the Pacific coast, the Guanacaste peninsula is served by the Rio 
Tempisque, while the more densely populated area around San Jose, in the 
center of the Republic, is drained by the Rio Grande de Tarcoles and the 
southwestern plains by the Rio Grande de Terraba. 
Everywhere in the valleys there is exceptionally rich soil produced by 
volcanic ash deposited by the Costa Rican volcanoes, most of them now extinct, 
chief among which are Irazu and Turrialba, attaining heights of 11,200 and 
10,900 feet respectively. The wild life of Costa Rica includes jaguars, 
tepiscuintes, tapirs, deer, rabbits, wild pigs and monkeys. I ropical birds, some 
of them beautiful and brilliantly colored, abound. A few of the most nu¬ 
merous are: parrots, macaws, toucans, humming birds and wild turkeys. 
HISTORY 
Columbus, on his fourth and last voyage to the New World, after 
passing Santo Domingo, stopping at Honduras and continuing southward 
along the coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua, discovered Costa Rica on Sep¬ 
tember 18, 1502, when he disembarked in Cariav Bav, where there is now 
located the seaport city of Limon. At the time of the discovery, it is esti¬ 
mated that there were only 27,000 Indians in Costa Rica. I hese had de¬ 
veloped primitive civilizations within the five tribes into which they were 
divided, using wooden and stone tools and cultivating a few agricultural crops 
such as cocoa, corn, beans and cotton. Although they reciprocated the 
friendly overtures made by Columbus, this numerically small group of natives 
offered a determined resistance to the subsequent incursions of the conquista- 
dores with the result that by 1611 the entire population, including the 
Spaniards and Spanish-Indians, was not more than fifteen thousand, the rapid 
and great decrease being accounted for mostly by the incessant warfare. To 
the present day, however, the decline of the Indian race has continued and 
there are now less than four thousand aborigines in the country. They have 
never mixed to any great extent with the European population and the political 
and social strife between racial elements which has characterized many other 
Latin American countries has played no important part in Costa Rica’s history 
5 
