Map of Costa Rica and travel information about Costa Rica brought to you by Lonely Planet.
Costa Rica- free printable map downloadclick for larger versionclick to download the pdf. Choose either a larger jpg image or the more detailed and fully zoomable pdf map by clicking on the thumbnails above. The handy printable highway map of Costa Rica includes a table of driving distances and an alphabetical index of grid coordinates for most cities and towns and features national parks, reserves and wildlife refuges. Nearly every trip around Costa Rica stays on page one of the map which includes the central Pacific coast from Dominical north to Manuel Antonio and Jac. If you’re looking for a real map instead of a page of coupons and marketing material this is it. Waterproof Map. Full color, 3. Commercial use prohibited without prior license – these maps may not be modified, sold, given away, or reproduced in any form including print or digital, or online copies for commercial purposes.
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Costa Rica - Wikipedia. Coordinates: 1. 0. It has a population of around 4. San Jos. It remained a peripheral colony of the empire until independence as part of the short- lived First Mexican Empire, followed by membership in the United Provinces of Central America, from which it formally declared sovereignty in 1. Since then, Costa Rica has remained among the most stable, prosperous, and progressive nations in Latin America. Following a brief civil war, it permanently abolished its army in 1. More recently, pre- Columbian Costa Rica has also been described as part of the Isthmo- Colombian Area.
The oldest evidence (stone tool making) of human occupation in Costa Rica is associated with the arrival of various groups of hunter- gatherers about 1. BCE in the Turrialba Valley. The presence of Clovis culture type spearheads and arrows from South America opens the possibility that, in this area, two different cultures coexisted. They mainly grew tubers and roots (like carrots). For the first and second millennia BCE there were already settled farming communities.
These were small and scattered, although the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture as the main livelihood in the territory is still unknown. Shards of pots, cylindrical vases, platters, gourds and other forms of vases decorated with grooves, prints, and some modelled after animals have been found. Most of the native population was absorbed into the Spanish- speaking colonial society through inter- marriage, except for some small remnants, the most significant of which are the Bribri and Boruca tribes who still inhabit the mountains of the Cordillera de Talamanca, in the southeastern part of Costa Rica, near the frontier with Panama. Spanish colonization. Accounts differ as to whether the name la costa rica (Spanish for . Costa Rica's distance from the capital in Guatemala, its legal prohibition under Spanish law to trade with its southern neighbors in Panama, then part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (i. Colombia), and the lack of resources such as gold and silver, made Costa Rica into a poor, isolated, and sparsely inhabited region within the Spanish Empire.
For all these reasons, Costa Rica was, by and large, unappreciated and overlooked by the Spanish Crown and left to develop on its own. The circumstances during this period are believed to have led to many of the idiosyncrasies for which Costa Rica has become known, while concomitantly setting the stage for Costa Rica's development as a more egalitarian society than the rest of its neighbors.
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Costa Rica became a . It was not long before Spanish settlers turned to the hills, where they found rich volcanic soil and a milder climate than that of the lowlands. On September 1. 5, 1. Drivers Aspen M1 Carbine. Spanish defeat in the Mexican War of Independence (1. Guatemala declared the independence of all of Central America. That date is still celebrated as Independence Day in Costa Rica even though, technically, under the Spanish Constitution of 1. Nicaragua and Costa Rica had become an autonomous province with its capital in Le.
Two bands formed, the Imperialists, defended by Cartago and Heredia cities which were in favor of joining the Mexican Empire, and the Republicans, represented by the cities of San Jos. Because of the lack of agreement on these two possible outcomes, the first civil war of Costa Rica occurred. The Battle of Ochomogo took place on the Hill of Ochomogo, located in the Central Valley in 1.
The conflict was won by the Republicans and, as a consequence, the city of Cartago lost its status as the capital, which moved to San Jos. The considerable distance and poor communication routes between Guatemala City and the Central Plateau, where most of the Costa Rican population lived then and still lives now, meant the local population had little allegiance to the federal government in Guatemala.
Free detailed printable map of Costa Rica with highways, roads, 4WD and attractions featuring hotels, restaurants, bars, parks, reserves, trails an more. Best Costa Rica information anywhere "Ridiculously helpful" says K.S. Come explore with two map makers, travel advisors, photographers and story tellers. The complete range of travel guides from leading guide book publisher Lonely Planet. Books and downloadable ebooks direct from the publisher. During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which was nominally part of the Viceroyalty of New.
From colonial times to now, Costa Rica's reluctance to become politically tied with the rest of Central America has been a major obstacle to efforts for greater regional integration. Economic growth. Coffee was first planted in Costa Rica in the early 1. Europe in 1. 84. 3, soon becoming Costa Rica's first major export. Coffee production remained Costa Rica's principal source of wealth well into the 2. Most of the coffee exported was grown around the main centers of population in the Central Plateau and then transported by oxcart to the Pacific port of Puntarenas. Since the main market for the coffee was in Europe, it soon became a high priority to develop a transportation route from the Central Plateau to the Atlantic Ocean. For this purpose, in the 1.
Costa Rican government contracted with U. S. Keith to build a railroad to the Caribbean port of Lim. Despite enormous difficulties with construction, disease, and financing, the railroad was completed in 1.
Most Afro- Costa Ricans, who constitute about 3% of the country's population, descend from Jamaican immigrants who worked in the construction of that railway. In exchange for completing the railroad, the Costa Rican government granted Keith large tracts of land and a lease on the train route, which he used to produce bananas and export them to the United States. As a result, bananas came to rival coffee as the principal Costa Rican export, while foreign- owned corporations (including the United Fruit Company) began to hold a major role in the national economy. Since the late 1. Costa Rica has experienced two significant periods of violence.
In 1. 91. 7–1. 9, General Federico Tinoco Granados ruled as a military dictator until he was overthrown and forced into exile. The unpopularity of Tinoco's regime led, after he was overthrown, to a considerable decline in the size, wealth, and political influence of the Costa Rican military. In 1. 94. 8, Jos. After the coup d'. Since then, Costa Rica has held 1. With uninterrupted democracy dating back to at least 1.
Geography. Costa Rica map of K. It borders the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,2. Caribbean coast and 1,0. Pacific. Costa Rica also borders Nicaragua to the north (3. Panama to the south- southeast (3. In total, Costa Rica comprises 5. The highest point in the country is Cerro Chirrip.
The highest volcano in the country is the Iraz. There are 1. 4 known volcanoes in Costa Rica, and six of them have been active in the last 7.
Cocos Island (2. 4 square kilometres or 9. Puntarenas, but Isla Calero is the largest island of the country (1. Over 2. 5% of Costa Rica's national territory is protected by SINAC (the National System of Conservation Areas), which oversees all of the country's protected areas. Costa Rica also possesses the greatest density of species in the world. However, the country has many microclimates depending on elevation, rainfall, topography, and by the geography of each particular region. Costa Rica's seasons are defined by how much rain falls during a particular period.
The year can be split into two periods, the dry season known to the residents as summer, and the rainy season, known locally as winter. Humidity is also higher on the Caribbean side than on the Pacific side. The mean annual temperature on the coastal lowlands is around 2. While the country has only about 0. Deforestation, illegal pet- trading, and hunting are the main reasons for its threatened status. The park is recognized for the annual nesting of the endangered green turtle, and is the most important nesting site for the species.
Giant leatherback, hawksbill, and loggerhead turtles also nest there. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is home to about 2,0. Over 4. 00 types of birds and more than 1. As is the case in much of Central America, the avian species in Costa Rica are a mix of North and South American species.
The country's abundant fruit trees, many of which bear fruit year round, are hugely important to the birds, some of whom survive on diets that consist only of one or two types of fruit.