COSTA RICA IN BRIEF 
Area —23,000 square miles. 
Population —591,862. 
Capital —S an Jose; population 62,162. 
Language —Sp anish. 
Principal exports —Coffee, bananas, cocoa. 
Principal imports —Textiles, foodstuffs, fuels, machinery. 
The climate varies with the altitude. The coastal plains have a 
mean temperature ranging from 77 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, while 
the central tableland averages from 59 to 77 degrees and the cool 
mountain regions from 41 to 59 degrees. Rainfall may also be zoned 
according to altitude, the coastal plains having an abundance, the 
tableland a moderate amount and the mountain regions comparatively 
little. 
Chief physical characteristics —Costa Rica is shaped like an 
oblong and extends in a northwest-southeast direction from Nicaragua 
to Panama. A mountain range centrally traverses its length and 
supports a broad tableland which drops away on both sides to the 
coastal plains. There are numerous rivers, the principal ones being 
the Rio San Juan draining Lake Nicaragua, the Rio Parisimina in the 
northeast, the Rio Sixaola in the southeast, and the Rio Tempisque, 
which drains the level Guanacaste peninsula in the northwest. 
Means of approach —There are two principal seaports: Puerto 
Limon on the Caribbean coast and Puntarenas on the Pacific. Limon 
is a port-of-call for vessels from Europe, the West Indies, South 
America and the east coast of the United States, while Puntarenas may 
be reached from Panama and west coast ports in the United States 
and South America. San Jose, the capital, about half-way between 
the Caribbean and the Pacific, can be reached by rail from both 
Puntarenas and Limon. San Jose is on the Pan American Airways 
route between the United States and South America, while two national 
lines connect interior cities with the coasts. 
COAT OF ARMS OF COSTA RICA 
COSTA RICA 
INTRODUCTION 
T^HE Republic of Costa Rica embraces an area of 23,000 square miles 
and has a population of 591,862. The southernmost of the Central 
American Republics, it is situated between the Pacific Ocean and the 
Caribbean Sea, which form its respective western and eastern boundaries. 
I tom Panama in the south to Nicaragua in the north, Costa Rica’s Caribbean 
ot Atlantic coastline extends for about 119 miles while its corresponding 
Pacific coastline is 286 miles in length. Costa Rica is centrally traversed 
fiom the northwest to the southeast by a mountain chain, a portion of the 
Andes. The presence of this cordillera produces throughout the country a 
greatly varied climate which may be classified into three zones, the regions 
Ring within each zone contributing in a different way to the general agri¬ 
cultural economy, the basis of wealth for the Republic. 
The hot zone comprises those lands under 3200 feet altitude. These are 
mostly coastal and river plains, forested or grassy, which begin at the sea- 
coasts and advance to the central cordillera. I he mean temperature in this 
region is between 77 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The Atlantic section is 
watered by abundant rainfall, about three hundred days a year, while in the 
Pacific section the lainy season lasts from IVlav to November and the dry 
from November to April. The chief products of this low-lying, humid zone 
are bananas, cocoa, coconuts, gums, sugar cane, fine woods and fruits. 
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