Costa Rica, officially known as the Republic of Costa Rica (Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica, meaning "Rich Coast") is a country of Central America. Due to its position in the isthmus, it was never really appreciated in its time.
Its original inhabitants came from a variety of tribes with shamanistic traditions. The leaders were known as the “Caciques” and they are nowadays honored by the fact that most Costa Ricans know “Cacique” as the name of an alcoholic beverage. Located smack-dab between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultures (That is, Mayans and Aztecs North, and Incas South), the tribal cultures in Costa Rica became some sort of chilled-out place where they could flee from the sacrificial frenzy of the heart-hungry Aztecs. There is a reference from Francisco Pizarro (conqueror of Peru, the heart of the Andean culture) where he mentions that every set amount of years, the leaders of the Inca would travel up north “To the country of the balls”
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Whether it made reference to the mysterious spherical orbs that UNESCO declared World Heritage, or the possibility of Costa Rica's natives being risk-taking berserkers, is left as yet another mystery in the history of the world.
The name “Rich Coast” came from Christopher Columbus himself, who upon seeing natives with gold artifacts, immediately assumed that gold must be plentiful in the land. This alone started a tug of war between the much more established and easy to access Captaincy of Panama against the Viceroyalty of Guatemala. Assumptions proved to be a not quite liquid asset.
There weren't that many locals when the Spaniards appeared to colonize. Most locals died swiftly of the diseases carried by the settlers (the only ones who survived were tribes like the Bribri and the Boruca, who are still around today); that meant there weren't any people who could be 'cordially invited' to the 'forced labor party' the generals wanted to throw, so they had to do it themselves. As a result, the society grew much more uniformly than in the neighboring countries.
Costa Rica at that time was part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, but it was too far from its capital. This, along with the prohibition of commercializing with Panama (then part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada), turned the country into one of the poorest in the region.
After the Mexican War of Independence, Costa Rica (along with all the other Central American countries) became automatically independent from Spain and part of the Federal Republic of Central America. But this didn’t solve the distance, and lack of infrastructure problems that made Costa Rica almost like an outcast in the nation. So, they decided to declare themselves independent in 1838. The other countries didn’t care, because Costa Rica was already the kid who came without a date on Prom Night and just stood on the corner all night long.
Costa Rica is famous for having no army. There was, however, a long period in its history where it had one. Like many nations, especially around the area, this made it particularly susceptible to military juntas, traitorous generals, and one or two invasions from the United States. William Walker, a “Pirate” to the pre-American Civil War United States' Northern states and a “Gray-eyed man of destiny” to the pre-American Civil War United States' South established himself a Puppet State in Nicaragua with the intent of making more slave states. Costa Rica's army decided they wanted none of this (according to some books, at the suggestion of Cornelius Vanderbilt) and went to fight his army of Prussian, French, and U.S. mercenaries. They won, and the president is now remembered for having been kicked from his rule shortly after and unceremoniously executed by firing squad some time later. To the rest of the world, this event is not remembered at all.
More modern history in the nation would relate to the rise of banana republics. Contrary to what one would expect, Costa Rica didn't end up being one. First of all, their main export was coffee, not bananas. Second, the worst thing they saw was a bloody Civil War in 1948, which brought a radical change in the administration of the country (including the abolition of the army). Since then, the country has been much more prosperous than its neighbors, enjoying democratic rule through to today.
According to the Happy Planet Index, Costa Rica is one of the happiest places on Earth,note but that doesn't mean it's full of Stepford Smilers; rather, they enjoy life despite the economic problems (it being a developing country). The phrase "Pura Vida" ("Pure Life") condenses their way of thinking: A peculiar form of carpe diem that carries an implicit optimism of which Sebastian the crab would be proud. Accordingly with the location and history of the country, its culture is mixed as hell; there is, for example, the Province of Limón, with a vibe more like The Caribbean due to the Spaniards having brought slaves from Jamaica there, given how few people they could find. It's also a nice destination for medical tourism and (sadly) Sex Tourism (this way even the tourists are mixed as hell!)
One last thing; after the civil war, the government abolished the military. Not only was it one the first countries to do so, but was for long time the only country in Latin America without a military (no doubt that helped dodge the military rule of almost all the continent) until Panama and Haiti abolished their own armies. But what about the novel Jurassic Park, where the dinosaurs are destroyed by the Costa Rican Air Force? Well, that was just Michael Crichton not doing enough research. Though that said, the country does maintain a public security force and even its own special forces division purely for self-defense and police work.
Costa Rica had a two-party system for decades, especially between 1982 and 2002, when the two dominating parties were National Liberation Party (PLN) and Social Christian Unity (PUSC) with a very similar dynamic to the Democrat/Republican system in the US. Part of the reason why this was such, was as an aftermath of the Civil War that ended up abolishing the military: The contenders were two opposite political parties and they stuck after the war, with very visceral feelings from one against the other. After 2002, however, it became more of a multi-party system, or more exactly a five-party system because currently five parties are the main political forces. These are:
From right to left; Libertarian Movement (far-right liberals), Social Christian Unity (center-right conservatives and moderate liberals), National Liberation Party (Social-Democrat/Third Way/Socio-liberals and are center-right, center or center-left depending on who you ask), Citizens Action Party (generally considered Progressive/Social-Democrat/Socio-Liberal center-left, similarly but much more to the left than PLN) and Broad Front (Left). There’s also like a dozen of small testimonial parties with no real influence or possibilities of winning an election.
The political position of these parties about different topics may vary strongly from their counterparts in other countries. For example, PUSC is a Social Christian party but is in favor of recognizing same-sex couples, but is not in favor of same-sex marriage while Libertarian Movement had established that LGBT-topics were not their priority, contrary to most liberal parties. The only main party that endorses same-sex marriage is Broad Front, but PLN, PAC and PUSC all support same-sex couples' legal recognition trough other legal figure.
The electoral performance may vary strongly from election to election depending on the candidate. For example, Broad Front was one of the less voted parties in 2010 with its uncharismatic candidate Eugenio Trejos, while with the very charismatic candidate young Congressman Jose Maria Villalta appears as second –and sometimes first- in polls even at same level that PLN’s candidate Johnny Araya (something previously unheard off for the Left), while PAC may have a very different performance depending on the candidate it was second more voted in two elections (2006 and 2010). PLN is still the largest and oldest party with a decades-long loyal base, but can suffer also from the unpopularity of some governments and the fact that most non-PLN sympathizers tend to be anti-PLN so is almost impossible for PLN to catch new voters. PUSC is the smallest of the “Big Five” (partially because of a series of corruption scandals) but is generally included as the “Big Five” for historical reasons (achieve power three times in its history).
Do not confuse with Puerto Rico, which is not an independent nation, but a commonwealth of the United States.
Notable Costa Ricans:
- Madeleine Stowe has Costa Rican ancestry through her mother
- Broadway actor Danny Burstein was born to a Costa Rican mother who separated from his biological father when he was a baby. His surname came from his Jewish stepfather, and he was raised celebrating both Christian and Jewish holidays.
- Jose Pablo Cantillo, best known for Crank.
- Canadian actor Nick Cordero.
- Retired WWE fighters Candice Michelle and Rosa Mendes are both of Costa Rican descent, though Michelle is American, while Mendes is Canadian.
- Harry Shum Jr. was born in Costa Rica to Chinese parents, but moved to the United States when he was six. His first language is Spanish, though, according to him, he is no longer fluent in it.
- Singer DEV (Devin Star Tailes) is of Costa Rican descent.
Costa Rica in fiction:
- Probably the most famous saga involving Costa Rica is Jurassic Park, even when the book has some misconceptions (like assuring Costa Rica has an army) and the first movie shows the capital San José as a beach with palms trees (while it is a city in the middle of a valley), most Costa Ricans have a certain love toward the franchise.
- American play Slowgirl is set in Costa Rica, although the only two characters are a pair of exiled Americans.
- Costa Rica is mentioned in two Sherlock Holmes' stories; in The Hound of the Baskervilles and in The Adventure of Black Pete. In Hound the main antagonist was born there after his British father escaped and marry a local woman. Interestingly the choice of the country may not have being coincidental as Costa Rica did had a notorious migration of British citizens during late 19th and early 20th century.
- Surf School occurs in Costa Rica.
- After Earth was filmed in Costa Rica, yet the country is never named (not that it matters, considering it's a thousand years After the End).
- Multiple scenes of Congo were filmed on location in the Costa Rican rainforest, which stood in for Darkest Africa.
- South Park: The episode "Rainforest Schmainforest" happened in Costa Rica. Due to the very bad stereotypes associated with the country, it caused a formal complaint to be requested from the Costa Rican government.
- The Simpsons:
- In the episode "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", Krusty is beaten by two Latinos who he thinks are both Mexican, but is corrected immediately because one of them was Costa Rican.
- The episode "Livin La Pura Vida" takes place in Costa Rica.
- Daria, in episode Lane Miserables, Jane’s sister Penny returns home after living several years in Costa Rica, losing her business due to a volcano eruption.
- Home Improvement, Randy was Put on a Bus to Costa Rica in episode Adios due to Jonathan Taylor Thomas departure from the series for personal and academic reasons.
- The Office (US), episode "Goodbye, Toby", Toby Flenderson is having a farewell party because he is going to Costa Rica.
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, takes place in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
- The Divide Trilogy: The first book starts in Costa Rica.
- TRON: Legacy: Sam Flynn, ever the Deadpan Snarker, muses that his long-disappeared father Kevin may be living it up in Costa Rica in one early scene. Many people from Costa Rica actually chuckled at that scene.
- A Superman issue Action Comics Vol.1 Number 792, "Big City, Little Man" followed Clark developing a friendship with a newspaper vendor that was a Costa Rican immigrant, and Superman's quest to find him when he mysteriously disappeared... and then finding out that some random bookie killed him because the man had won a large bet and the bookie hated that.
- The Costa Rican Stone Ball (Kosutarikan Sutōn Bōru) are an actual trap card in Yu-Gi-Oh!.
- The intro of the first Syphon Filter and a series of missions in the third game are set here, being where the terrorists got the plants needed to create the titular bioweapon from.
- New Girl, episode “Julie Berkman’s Older Sister”, Schmidt scolds Nick for being a sloth and tells him he should be living in a tree in Costa Rica.
Notable media made by Costa Ricans
- Terror en Doomsville: an animated short film made by Costa Rican company Rocket Animation for Cartoon Network.
- Fenix Rage: a Platform Game from 2014
- Monster Party Voodoo Madness: A Monster Mash Card Game.
- John Timms: Marvel and DC Comics illustrator.
- Franco Céspedes: Illustrator for IDW Publishing
- Daniel Mora: Illustrator for Boom! Studios
- Daniel Zovatto: Costa Rican actor, has made appearances in both TV (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fear the Walking Dead) and film (It Follows, Don't Breathe).
- Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl: a Smash Bros.-style Mascot Fighter co-developed by Costa Rica and Sweden.
The Costa Rican flag
The Costa Rican national anthem
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Government
- Unitary presidential constitutional republic
- President: Rodrigo Chaves Robles
- 1st Vice-President: Stephan Brunner
- 2nd Vice-President: Mary Munive
Miscellaneous
- Capital and largest city: San José
- Population: 5,094,118
- Area: 51,100 sq km (19,700 sq mi) (126th)
- Currency: Costa Rican colón (₡) (CRC)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: CR
- Country calling code: 506
- Highest point: Cerro Chirripó (3820 m/12,533 ft) (42nd)
- Lowest points: Caribbean Sea (7,686 m/25,217 ft) (-) and Pacific Ocean (10,911 m/35,797 ft) (-)
