Costa Rica is a democratic, free, independent, multiethnic and multicultural Republic located in the heart of the Central American region. Its capital is San José and its official language is Spanish, although the indigenous languages Bribri, Cabécar, Guaymí, Malecu or Guatuso, Boruca or Brunca and Térraba are spoken in a minority. A part of its population also speaks Creole English or Limonian Creole. It limits to the north with the Republic of Nicaragua, to the southeast with the Republic of Panama, to the west with the Pacific Ocean and to the east with the Caribbean Sea.
Geography
It has a total area of 51,100 km2, and its geographic division consists of seven provinces: Guanacaste, Puntarenas, San José, Heredia, Puntarenas, Limón, and Cartago. It has an important number of active volcanoes and its highest point is Cerro Chirripó (3,821m), located in the Cordillera de Talamanca.
Diversity
Despite constituting a small territory, the country is considered one of the most diverse in the world, since the species that inhabit here constitute 6% of the world’s biodiversity. The conservation policy, the creation of national parks and the awareness of the citizenship help in the preservation of these natural resources.
Peace-loving
Costa Rica has been an army-free country since 1948, at which time the country decided to invest and focus the efforts dedicated to this institution on the education and health of the population, a measure that consolidated the centenary Costa Rican civilian tradition. The high investment and the universalization of education strengthen a modern national educational system, which conceives education as a means of social mobility and political equality. Added to the above are the achievements in health and the universalization of social security, all of which have earned the country recognition as one of the most consolidated democracies in the Americas.
