Costa Rica

Elizabeth Raum

Description

Costa Rica offers complete coverage of this fascinating country, including sections on history, geography, wildlife, infrastructure and government, and culture. It also includes a detailed fact file, maps and charts, and a traceable flag.

Sujets

• Costa Rica

Informations

• Publié par: Capstone Global Library
• Date de parution: 06 juillet 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781406233551
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Countries Around the World Costa Rica

Elizabeth Raum

Raintree is an imprint of Capstone Global Library Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales having its registered office at 7 Pilgrim Street, London, EC4V 6LB – Registered company number: 6695582

Text © Capstone Global Library Limited 2012 First published in hardback in 2012 The moral rights of the proprietor have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS (www.cla.co.uk). Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission should be addressed to the publisher.

Edited by Louise Galpine and Megan Cotugno Designed by Ryan Frieson Original illustrations © Capstone Global Library, Ltd, 2012 Illustrated by Oxford Designers & Illustrators Picture research by Tracy Cummins Originated by Capstone Global Library, Ltd Printed in China by China Translation and Printing Services

ISBN 978 1 406 22787 1 (hardback) 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Raum, Elizabeth. Costa Rica. -- (Countries around the world) 972.8'6052-dc22 A full catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce photographs: © Alamy: p. 32 (© Thornton Cohen); © Corbis: pp. 7 (© Chris Cheadle/All Canada Photos), 8 (© JUAN CARLOS ULATE/Reuters), 21 (© Kevin Schafer); © Getty Images: pp. 9 (Bob Stefko), 15 (Chris Cheadle), 23 (ELMER MARTINEZ/AFP), 27 (Andy Nelson/The Christian Science Monitor), 29 (Gustavo Caballero/WireImage for NARAS), 31 (Scott Barbour), 39 (Andy Nelson/The Christian Science Monitor); © Imageworks: p. 34 (© David Frazier); © istockphoto: pp. 11 (© Martin Harrison), 17 (© Stephen Meese), 25 (© Focus_on_Nature); © Shutterstock: pp. 5 (© Tony Northrup), 16 (© TranceDrumer), 18 (© worldswildlifewonders), 19 (© Matthew W Keefe), 28 (© Steve Cukrov), 35 (© worldswildlifewonders), 38 (© Timur Kulgarin), 46 (© c.); © SuperStock: pp. 13 (© age footstock), 30 (© Lonely Planet).

Cover photograph reproduced with permission of Corbis/ © Jim Zuckerman.

We would like to thank Richard Abisla for his invaluable help in the preparation of this book.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of any material reproduced in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in subsequent printings if notice is given to the publisher.

Disclaiamer All the Internet addresses (URLs) given in this book were valid at the time of going to press. However, due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, some addresses may have changed, or sites may have changed or ceased to exist since publication. While the author and publisher regret any inconvenience this may cause readers, no responsibility for any such changes can be accepted by either the author or the publisher.

Contents

Introducing Costa Rica ...................................................... 4 History: seeking peace ...................................................... 6 Regions and resources: something for everyone............ 12 Wildlife: amazing variety ................................................. 16 Infrastructure: a constitutional republic ......................... 22 Culture: celebrating life................................................... 28 Costa Rica today ............................................................. 34 Fact file ............................................................................ 36 Timeline........................................................................... 40 Glossary........................................................................... 42 Find out more.................................................................. 44 Topic tools ....................................................................... 46 Index................................................................................ 48

Some words in the book are in bold,like this. You can find out what they mean by looking in the glossary.

4

Introducing Costa Rica

Have you ever been to Costa Rica? Thousands of tourists visit thistropical paradise every year. Costa Rica is located in Central America, and forms a bridge between North and South America. Costa Rica, which covers 51,100 square kilometres (19,730 square miles), is more than twice the size of Wales.

Peaceful people Most of Costa Rica’s 4.5 million people live in the Central Valley where San José, the capital and largest city, is located. The people, who call themselves ticos, are proud that Costa Rica is a peaceful nation. Costa Rica is one of only 18 countries in the world that has no standing armies (permanent military force).

Beaches and volcanoes Costa Rica has over 1,290 kilometres (800 miles) of coastline. Rugged mountain ranges, which include over 100 volcanoes, separate the coastal areas.Rainforestsandcloud forestsattract tourists to Costa Rica. Today, tourism is Costa Rica’s largest industry. Tourists enjoy surfing in coastal waters, rafting on rivers, and hiking through rainforests.

A paradise for plants and animals Costa Rica has an amazing variety of plant and animalspecies. It is home to over 9,000 species of plants, 2,000 species of butterflies, and 876 species of birds. Giant turtles, poisonous snakes, jaguars, and various kinds of monkeys add to the country’sbiodiversity. Costa Rica’s national parks and nature reserves help to preserve the wildlife.