Overview Of Costa Rica For Travelers

T he Republic of Costa Rica        peaceful democracy since 1899. It  is located in Central           has a system of checks and         America and is an amazingly     balances similar to the United     beautiful country. Following is       States, but more power is          an overview of the past and           invested with the President and    present of Costa Rica for             executive branch. The President    travelers.                            and congressional members are                                            elected to 4-year terms.           Overview of Costa Rica for                                               Travelers                             Costa Rica covers an area of                                             19,730 square miles. The capital   Christopher Columbus discovered       is San Jose, which has a           Costa Rica and the indigenous         population of 2.1 million people.  people living there in 1502. The      The terrain is rugged and          Spanish subsequently colonized        tropical with dormant volcanoes,   it. The name of the country, Rich     a rain forest in the south and     Coast, comes from their mistaken      immaculate beaches. Rainfall is    belief that gold was prevalent.       heavy during summer months, but    It wasn’t, but the name stuck. In     temperatures are consistently in   1821, Costa Rica joined other         the 70 to 90 degree range.         Central American countries in                                            declaring independence from           The people of Costa Rica are       Spain. True independence didn’t       known both as “Ticos” and “Costa   occur till 1838 when Costa Rica       Ricans.” The total population is   broke away from a federation of       4 million, but growing at 1.5      Central American countries.           percent. Roman Catholic is the                                           dominant religion, although 15     In a major departure from many        percent of the population claims   Central America countries, Costa      Protestant as their faith.         Rica has largely been a free and      Literacy is at 96 percent.         Average life expectancy for a         has been a lot of construction     woman is 79 years while men           and expansion over the last 15     average 74 years. Spanish is the      years. Places like Tamarindo are   dominant language.                    no longer sleepy little coast                                            towns. If you want to see the      Costa Rica is both a hot tourist      sleepy Costa Rica of old, now is   and relocation destination. The       the time to go before it is to     country is simply beautiful and       late.                              the people are friendly. There         About the Author: Richard Monk is with http://www.factsmonk.com - a site with facts about everything. Visit http://www.factsmonk.com/country_facts to read more about country facts. Read more articles by: Richard Monk This article is distributed by: www.iSnare.com