Cultural Landscape

Costa Rica consists of about 98% tropical forests. Looking at the pictures above gives a brief background as to the modernization, deforestation and pollution that people have brought to Costa Rica. Though this country is considered to be one of the "greenest" in the world, humans have played an impact on the deterioration of its natural landscapes. The majority of its population is located in the city of San Jose in central Costa Rica with few other major cities scattered around the coast. Deforestation is the biggest issue that Costa Rica faces given that most of its landscape consists of trees and forests. But, unlike many countries, Costa Rica has taken steps to secure their country's natural beauty by adopting the "green" way of living and if they continue to head down this path, Costa Rica will continue to be one of the world's precious jewels of natural beauty.

Economy of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is considered to be a rural country, with most of its population living in small towns spread throughout. Though most people live under the poverty line, in the past 15 years, poverty has decreased substantially due to the increase in foreign investors. The Costa Rican government just recently concluded negotiations to become a part od the US-Central American Free Trade Agreement. For years agricultural products such as bananas and coffee has been the dominant source for production and exports. Recently tourism and major industries such as the production of elctronics, textiles, fertilizer and plastic products have surpassed the agricultural trade. 

Political and Cultural Geography

Costa Rica is known for its "green" environment and maintains its ranking of 5th in the world on the Envrionmental Performance index. Costa Rica also  holds the title as the "greenest" country in the world. Its government is a Democratic republic, split up in to seven provinces, further subdivided in to 81 cantons. Each canton is run by a mayor that is electorally voted in to office every four years. the 81 cantons are then split up in to 421 districts. Something very unique about the Costa Rican government is that they abolished their army permanently in 1949. the religion of Costa Rica consists of 90% Catholics. Though their country is consumed of mainly one religion, they are very lax on religious beliefs. A very important religious holiday is Holy week ( the week before Easter). Many Costa Ricans used this week to celebrate and vacation. The relationship between the state and church is very weak, or secular, but, every village, no matter how small, has a church facing east. The national language of Costa Rica is Spanish, though English is also used quite frequently.

Physical Geogrpahy

Costa Rica is located in Central America, bordering the Carribean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Its combined coastline is 1,395 miles. The terrain of Costa Rica is coastal plains, separated by the Cordillera Central and Cordillera de Talamanca mountains. Costa Rica also contains four volcanoes near the center of the country, two of which are active. The climate of Costa Rica is tropical, sub tropical including the moist forests of Bocas de Toro and San Blas mangroves. Its two major seasons are wet and dry. The dry months are between December through April and the wet season is May through November. Many people travel to Costa Rica to visit the zipplining adventures through the beautiful forests and mountanous regions. On the peak of Cerro Chirripo, a volcanic mountain, both the Pacific Ocean and Carribean Sea can be viewed. The biggest threat to Costa Rica's landscape is deforestation, which is a problem that has consumed Central America.