The National Geographic Guide to Costa Rica observes that this tiny country, roughly the size of Scotland or the state of West Virginia, ‘seems to contain the entire world within its small compass,’ 1. Rich and varied topography, biodiversity and historical influences are abundant within only 51,100sqkm.
Table of Contents
- Geological Formation
- Pre-Columbian Costa Rica (12,000BC to 1500AD)
- Cacicazgos... or Village Life
- The Eve of Conquest
- The Arrival of the Spanish
- Colonial Life
- Independence (1750-1850)
- Coffee and Power (1800-1900)
- Social Relations within the Coffee Sector
- Coffee Presidents
- The William Walker Episode
- The Guardia Era (1870-1882)
- A National Ideology Made Law
- Conditions within the Banana Industry
- The Rise of Tico-comunismo
- Calderon, Figueres and the Civil War of 1948
- Post 1948 (1950 1980)
- The Liberacion State
- The Transformation of the Coffee Industry
- 1980 Onwards: From Economic Crisis to Neo-liberalism (1980 2007)
- Nicaragua, Civil War and a Nobel Peace Prize
- The Price of Structural Adjustment and the Move Towards 'Free Trade'
- The History of Costa Rica - Bibliography
Situated at the thin end of the Central American Isthmus, Cost Rica forms a unique land bridge between two oceans and two dramatically distinct continents. As a crossroads of trade routes, exchange, species and cultures, the country’s unique geographical circumstances are an inherent characteristic of its natural and social identity. These characteristics have also provided the basis for its economic development models. The country’s agricultural export industry and its rapidly developing ‘Ecotourism’ market are possible as a result of its abundance of natural and cultural attractions and the geological and climatic conditions that encourage such prolific growth and cultivation.
