Costa Rica

The country's official name is Republica de Costa Rica or Republic of Costa Rica. In Spanish Costa Rica means "rich coast". You will find the country in Central America. Both water and land surround it. The Pacific Ocean is to the west and the Caribbean Sea is to the east. North of Costa Rica is Nicaragua and the country of Panama is south of it. There are 3 geographical regions in Costa Rica. One is the Pacific Coast, which includes 3 peninsulas, steep cliffs, and sandy beaches. Another region there is the Central Highlands. Here is where the capital and other populous cities remain. Because of its higher elevation there is more rainfall and humidity. The last region is the Caribbean Lowlands. Obviously this is made up of lowlands, but there are the occasional volcanoes and hills. White and black sand beaches are also found here.

Two major Indian nations dominated Costa Rica when the Spaniards arrived. They are the Chorotega and the Chibcha. Christopher Columbus was the first European to go to Costa Rica. He found the Indians to be nice and seemed to have a lot of gold, so he reported this to the Spanish. This is how the name came about and why the Spaniards went because they believed the Ind

ians would be easy to conquer. Little did they know that the Indians would put up a fight and were not all that easy to conquer. They did eventually conquer they in war and by diseases. Some Indians also left Costa Rica because of fear of being enslaved. The Spaniards also did not find Costa Rica rich with gold. Many years later, an American named William Walker tried to defeat all of Central America to make them slave states for the U.S. He eventually failed and a young drummer boy named, Juan Santamaria, is remembered as a national hero for setting fire to the building Walker's troops were in forcing them to leave the building. Costa Rica eventually won and as a country they became more united than ever.

Almost the entire country of Costa Rica is Roman Catholic. The Spanish conquistadors brought this there. In 1949 the country adopted Catholicism has the state religion. There are then smaller percentages of people who belong to Jehovah's Witnesses, Judaism, and a few tribal religions.

Spanish is the common language in Costa Rica, but English is taught has a second language in school. Some Indians speak their native language but it is isolated. Also some of the blacks will speak Jamaican English, but it is also isolated to the people close to the Caribbean.

Of all the Central American countries Costa Rica has the highest number of educated people. Over 90 percent of the country can read and write. The law there only requires to be in school until age 14, but almost all children go on to receive a higher education. There are 6 universities in Costa R