Costa Rica, 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 million 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.
José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer served three terms as President of Costa Rica: 1948–1949, 1953–1958 and 1970–1974. During his first term in office he abolished the country's army, nationalized its banking sector, granted women and Afro-Costa Ricans the right to vote, and offered Costa Rican nationality to people of African descent.
Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz is an American mechanical engineer, physicist, and former NASA astronaut. He is the sole founder and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company as well as a member of the Cummins' board of directors. He became an American citizen in 1977.
Costa Rican culture has been heavily influenced by Spanish culture ever since the Spanish colonization of the Americas including the territory which today forms Costa Rica. Parts of the country have other strong cultural influences, including the Caribbean province of Limón and the Cordillera de Talamanca which are influenced by Jamaican immigrants and indigenous native people, respectively.
Relations between Costa Rica and the United States have been historically close; nevertheless there were instances in history where the US and Costa Rica disagreed. One such example might be the case of Freebooter William Walker. Nevertheless, considering that Costa Rica generally supports the U.S. in international fora, especially in the areas of democracy and human rights, modern day relations are very strong.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Costa Rica:
Coffee production has played a key role in Costa Rica's history and continues to be important to the country's economy. In 2006, coffee was Costa Rica's number three export, after being the number one cash crop export for several decades. In 1997, the agriculture sector employed 28 percent of the labor force and comprised 20 percent of Costa Rica's total GNP. Production increased from 158,000 tons in 1988 to 168,000 tons in 1992. The largest growing areas are in the provinces of San José, Alajuela, Heredia, Puntarenas, and Cartago. The coffee is exported to other countries in the world and is also exported to cities in Costa Rica.
The Youth Climate Movement (YouNGO) or International Youth Climate Movement (IYCM) refers to an international network of youth organisations that collectively aims to inspire, empower and mobilise a generational movement of young people to take positive action on climate change.
Costa Rica is divided into three major drainage basins encompassing 34 watersheds with numerous rivers and tributaries, one major lake used for hydroelectric generation, and two major aquifers that serve to store 90% of the municipal, industrial, and agricultural water supply needs of Costa Rica. Agriculture is the largest water user demanding around 53% of total supplies while the sector contributes 6.5% to the Costa Rica GDP. About a fifth of land under cultivation is being irrigated by surface water. Hydroelectric power generation makes up a significant portion of electricity usage in Costa Rica and much of this comes from the Arenal dam.
Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen is a Costa Rican diplomat who has led national, international and multilateral policy negotiations. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in July 2010, six months after the failed COP15 in Copenhagen. During the next six years she worked to rebuild the global climate change negotiating process, leading to the 2015 Paris Agreement, widely recognized as a historic achievement.
René Castro Salazar, was FAO's Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department Assistant-Director General and a former Costa Rican politician.
The Nicaragua–Costa Rica San Juan River border dispute was a series of periodical conflicts between Costa Rica and Nicaragua over the correct delimitation of their common border at its east-end, and the interpretation of the navigation rights on the San Juan River established in the Cañas-Jerez Treaty of 1858.
At the 2011 census, the number of immigrants in Costa Rica totaled about 390,000 individuals, or about 9% of the country's population. Following a considerable drop from 1950 through 1980, immigration to Costa Rica has increased in recent decades.
The Free Costa Rica Movement was a far-right anti-Communist and ultra-Conservative political association in Costa Rica. The group was founded in 1961 as Nationalist Movement. Some of its more noticeable actions were during neighboring Nicaragua's Sandinista government in the 80s, as the group was strongly anti-Sandinista and considered Sandinista Nicaragua a threat to Costa Rica. The group attacked Nicaragua's embassy in 1981. Besides the FSLN, the group was also enemy of several Costa Rican left-wing parties like United People and several farmers and workers organizations. It was also a member of the World Anti-Communist League.
Carlos Andrés Alvarado Quesada is a Costa Rican politician, writer, journalist, and political scientist who served as the 48th president of Costa Rica from 8 May 2018 to 8 May 2022. A member of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC), Alvarado previously served as Minister of Labor and Social Security during the presidency of Luis Guillermo Solís.
To the Stars: Costa Rica in NASA (2018) is a book by Canadian writer Bruce James Callow and Costa Rican writer Ana Luisa Monge Naranjo published by Editorial Tecnológica de Costa Rica. The book documents the lives of the Costa Ricans who have worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) up to the date of the book's publication.
Sofia Hernandez Salazar is a Costa Rican human rights, and environmental activist.
Sara Cognuck is a climate activist from Costa Rica.
Mónica Morales Masis is a Costa Rican physicist and materials scientist who works in The Netherlands as a professor at the University of Twente. Her research focuses on optoelectronics, transparent electronics, and solar cells.
