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Costa Rica
Country Information
Name: Republic of Costa
Rica
Location: Central america,
south of Nicaragua and North of Panamá.
Capital: San José
Area: 50.660 km sq (about
the size of the U.S. State of West Virginia)
Population: 3.5 million
(2000 estimation)
Infant mortally rate: 11.6
per 1.000 live births.
Life expectancy: 77.49
years male, 79.52 years female.
Total fertility rate: 3.11
children per woman (1993 estimate)
Ethnic divisions: white
(including mestizo) 96 percent, black 2
percent, indian 1 percent, chinese 1 percent.
Religions: Roman Catholic
(official state religion) 95 percent. Protestant
faiths are practiced, and there is a small
Jewish community.
Language: Spanish (official),
English spoken around Puerto Limón,
in the tourism industry and by many professionals
in the Central Valley.
Administrative division:
provinces Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste,
Heredia, Limón, Puntarenas and San
José. |
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Flora
& Fauna
Costa Rica is a small country, but its range
of habitats gives it an incredibly rich
diversity of flora and fauna. The World
Resources Institute, in a chart published
in 1995, shows that Costa Rica has the most
varied fauna of any country on the planet.
A huge tropical country like Brazil will
have more species than tiny Costa Rica,
so the biodiversity(variety of species)
is measured in terms of different species
per unit area rather than per country. Counting
all birds and mammals per every 10.000 sq
Km, Costa Rica comes out on top with species.
Flora
The floral biodiversity is also high; well
over 10.000 species of vascular plants have
been described, and more are being added
to the list every year. Orchids alone account
for about 1300 species, the most famous
of which is the March-blooming Cattleya
skinneri (or Guaria Morada in spanish),
Costa Rican´s national flower.
The tropical forest is very differentfrom
the temperature forests of North America
or Europe. Temperate forests, such as the
coniferous forests of the far north or the
deciduous woodlands of milder regions, tend
to have litle variety. There are pines,
pines, and more pines, or endless tracts
of oaks, beech, and bird.
Tropical forests, on the other band, have
great variety almost 2000 tree species have
been recorded in Costa Rica. If you stand
in one spot and look around, you´ll
see scores of different species of trees,
but often you´ll have to walk several
hundred meters to find another example of
any particular species.
Fauna
The primary attractions for many naturalists
are the birds, of which some 850 species
have been recorded in the country. This
is far more than what is found in any one
of the continents of North America, Australia,
or Europe. Also, according to figures from
INBIO, there are more than 250 mammal species
(including marine mammals) at least 65.000
classified insect species (with many thousands
more remaining to be described) about 180
species of amphibians, 235 species of reptiles
(of which more than half are snakes, 18
venomous), and 835 species of fish of which
about 700 are saltwater.
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Geography
Costa Rica is bordered to the north by Nicaragua,
to the northeast by the Caribbean Sea, to
the southeast by Panamá, and to the
west and southwest by Pacific Ocean.
This tropical country lies between latitudes
11°´13´N and 8°N and
longitudes 82°33´W and 85°85´W.
Country despite its tiny size, which, at
51.100 sq km, is almost half the size of
the state of Kentucky in the USA, two-thirds
the size of Tasmania in Australia.
A series of volcanic mountain chains run
from the Nicaragua border in the north-west
to the Panamanian border in the southeast,
splitting the country in two. The northwester
most range in the Cordillera de Guanacaste,
consisting of a spectacular chain of volcanoes
that can be appreciated by the traveler
heading south from the Nicaragua border
along the Carretera Interamericana.
Farther to the southeast is the Cordillera
de Tilarán, which includes the renowned
Monteverde cloud forest reserve and just
north of the main massif, the continually
exploding Volcan Poás (1633 m), the
most active volcano in Costa Rica.
The southeasternmost mountains are associated
with the Cordillera de Talamanca, which
is higher, geologically older, more remote,
and more rugged than the other ranges.
In the center of the highlands lies the
meseta central, which is surrounded by mountains
(the cordillera Central to the north and
east, The Cordillera de Talamanca to the
south). It is this central plain, between
about 1000 m and 1500 m above sea level,
that contains four of Costa Rica´s
five largest cities, including San José,
the capital.
Over half of the populations lives on this
plain, which contains fertile volcanic soil.
On either side of the volcanic central highlands
lie coastal lowlands which differgreatly
in form.
The two most important peninsulas are the
Nicoya, separated from the mainland by a
gulf of the same name, and the Osa, separated
from the mainland by the Golfo Dulce. The
Península de Nicoya is hilly, dry,
and dusty for much of the year. It´s
known for its cattle farming and beach resorts.
The Peninsula de Osa contains Parque Nacional
Corcovado, which is one of Costa Rica´s
protected rainforests. |
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