Costa Rica, the most southerly of the five republics of Central America. It is divided into six provinces, and occupies the entire breadth from sea to sea between Nicaragua on the one side and Colombia on the other, with an area of 21,495 miles, or about two-thirds that of Ireland. The population, which is mostly concentrated in a central plateau of about 3500 sq. m., was in 1885 officially estimated at 213,735, including some 10,000 uncivilised Indians; but in 1892 a census and estimate (for the Indians) gave 262,700. The whites are mostly of pure Spanish descent. Except on the coast, the country is generally mountainous, with many volcanoes, all under 11,500 feet; on the Atlantic slope dense forests prevail, but wide savannahs are more frequent on the Pacific side. The climate is mild and temperate in proportion to the elevation, and the soil of the valleys and uplands is very fertile. Prior to the discovery of gold in 1823, Costa Rica was a land of poverty, owing its title of 'The Rich Coast' solely to the anticipations of its first Spanish settlers; since then, foreign capital has opened up much of the country, and brought its products within reach of a market. Although rich in gold, silver, copper, and other metals, its chief industry is agriculture; but the population is very scanty, and only a twentieth part of the land is under cultivation. Besides valuable timber and dye-woods, it yields tobacco, sugar, bananas, cacao, caoutchouc, sarsaparilla, and vanilla, which, with hides, tortoise-shell, and mother-of-pearl, are largely exported. But the staple of trade is coffee, to which is principally due the reviving prosperity of 'the Coffee Republic.' Of a total annual export of £1,131,845 (1898) coffee represents four-fifths. The imports, chiefly manufactured goods from Great Britain, and wheat and other products from the United States, amounted in the same year to £851,780. The chief ports are Punta Arenas and Limon (q.v.); the other places of any note are San José, the capital, and the cities of Cartago, Alajuela, and Heredia.
Discovered by Columbus in 1493, and probably first settled on his fourth voyage, in 1502, Costa Rica has had much the same history as its neighbours: pronunciamientos have been frequent; its present constitution is the ninth since the declaration of independence in 1821; and for the ten years preceding 1883 that constitution was practically suspended. The government is now, however, accounted the best and most liberal in Central America. The president is chosen every four years, and the members of congress are elected for the same term. There is a small standing army of 600 men, besides 12,000 militia, which embraces all males between the ages of eighteen and thirty, while those from thirty to fifty-five form the reserve; and while the Roman Catholic is the state church, religious liberty is guaranteed. The annual revenue (1898-99) was £1,682,640, mainly derived from the government monopoly of spirits and tobacco, and just about balanced the expenditure. The foreign debt, £2,100,000, was rearranged in 1897 on a basis of 2½ and 3 per cent., and an arrangement made to pay off part of the large arrears of interest by instalments. There are in all about 170 miles of railway and 920 miles of telegraph.
See Peralta, Costa Rica, its Climate, &c. (Lond. 1873); Costa Rica, Nicaragua, y Panamá, en el Siglo XVI. (Madrid and Paris, 1883); and Costa Rica y Colombia (Madrid, 1886); also Calvo, República de Costa Rica (San José, 1887; English ed., Chicago, 1890).