Cartago

Cartago, (1) a river and almost landlocked bay or lagoon, communicating with the Caribbean Sea, near the northern extremity of the Mosquito Coast. —(2) A town of Costa Rica, 12 miles E. of the present capital, San José, on a plain to the south of the constantly smoking volcano of Irazú (11,500 feet). Pop. 8000, mostly small traders and farmers. Founded in 1522, the place had 23,000 inhabitants in 1823, and was capital of the state till 1841, when it was all but destroyed by an earthquake.—(3) A town of Cauca, in Colombia, founded in 1540, on the Rio Viejo, 3 miles above its junction with the Cauca, and producing cocoa, tobacco, and coffee. Pop. 7696.