The History of Costa Rica

The History of Costa Rica PDF Author: Iván Molina Jiménez
Publisher: Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica
ISBN: 9789977674681
Category : Costa Rica
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description

The History of Costa Rica

The History of Costa Rica PDF Author: Iván Molina Jiménez
Publisher: Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica
ISBN: 9789977674681
Category : Costa Rica
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description


Costa Rican Natural History

Costa Rican Natural History PDF Author: Daniel H. Janzen
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022616120X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 829

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Book Description
This volume is a synthesis of existing knowledge about the flora and fauna of Costa Rica. The major portion of the book consists of detailed accounts of agricultural species, vegetation, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds, and insects. "This is an extraordinary, virtually unique work. . . . The tremendous amount of original, previously unpublished, firsthand information is remarkable."—Peter H. Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden "An essential resource for anyone interested in tropical biology. . . . It can be used both as an encyclopedia—a source of facts on specific organisms—and as a source of ideas and generalizations about tropical ecology."—Alan P. Smith, Ecology

Introduction to Costa Rica

Introduction to Costa Rica PDF Author: Gilad James, PhD
Publisher: Gilad James Mystery School
ISBN: 3760376916
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description
Costa Rica is a country located in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It covers an area of 51,100 square kilometers with a population of around 5 million people. The country is known for its natural beauty, biodiversity, and progressive policies towards conservation and sustainability. Costa Rica is famous for its environmental conservation efforts and its significant share of the global biodiversity. The country is comprised of various types of ecosystems, including tropical and cloud forests, mangroves, wetlands, and marine areas, making it a popular destination for tourists and nature enthusiasts. The country's economy is mainly driven by agriculture, particularly coffee and banana production, as well as tourism, technology services, and manufacturing. Despite being a developing country, Costa Rica has a high standard of living, a strong focus on education, healthcare, and social welfare, and it is considered one of the happiest countries in the world.

The Ecolaboratory

The Ecolaboratory PDF Author: Robert Fletcher
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 081654011X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Despite its tiny size and seeming marginality to world affairs, the Central American republic of Costa Rica has long been considered an important site for experimentation in cutting-edge environmental policy. From protected area management to ecotourism to payment for environmental services (PES) and beyond, for the past half-century the country has successfully positioned itself at the forefront of novel trends in environmental governance and sustainable development. Yet the increasingly urgent dilemma of how to achieve equitable economic development in a world of ecosystem decline and climate change presents new challenges, testing Costa Rica’s ability to remain a leader in innovative environmental governance. This book explores these challenges, how Costa Rica is responding to them, and the lessons this holds for current and future trends regarding environmental governance and sustainable development. It provides the first comprehensive assessment of successes and challenges as they play out in a variety of sectors, including agricultural development, biodiversity conservation, water management, resource extraction, and climate change policy. By framing Costa Rica as an “ecolaboratory,” the contributors in this volume examine the lessons learned and offer a path for the future of sustainable development research and policy in Central America and beyond.

Costa Rican Ecosystems

Costa Rican Ecosystems PDF Author: Maarten Kappelle
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022627893X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 798

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Book Description
In 1502, Christopher Columbus named Costa Rica, and while gold and silver never materialized to justify the moniker of rich coast in purely economic terms, scientists and ecotravelers alike have long appreciated its incredible wealth. Wealth in Costa Rica is best measured by its biodiversityhome to a dizzying number of plants and animals, many endemic, it s a country that has long encouraged and welcomed researchers from the world over, and is exemplary in the creation and commitment to indigenous conservation and management programs. Costa Rica is considered to have the best preserved natural resources in Latin America. Approximately nine percent (about 1,000,000 acres) of Costa Rica has been protected in 15 national parks, and a comparable amount of land is protected as wildlife refuges, forest reserves or Indian reservations. This long-awaited synthesis of Costa Rican ecosystems is an authoritative presentation of the paleoecology, biogeography, structure, conservation, and sustainable use of Costa Rica s ecosystems. It systematically covers the entire range of Costa Rica s natural and managed, terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, including its island systems (Cocos Islands), the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and shores (coasts, coral reefs, mangrove forests), its lowlands (dry, season and wet forests), its highlands (the northern volcanoes and southern Talamanca s), and its estuaries, rivers, lakes, swamps and bogs. The volume s integrated, comprehensive format will be welcomed by tropical and temperate biologists alike, by biogeographers, plant and animal ecologists, marine biologists, conservation biologists, foresters, policy-makers and all scientists, natural history specialists and all with an interest in Costa Rica s ecosystems."

Introduction to Costa Rica

Introduction to Costa Rica PDF Author: Gilad James, PhD
Publisher: Gilad James Mystery School
ISBN: 7640500249
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description
Costa Rica is a country located in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It covers an area of 51,100 square kilometers with a population of around 5 million people. The country is known for its natural beauty, biodiversity, and progressive policies towards conservation and sustainability. Costa Rica is famous for its environmental conservation efforts and its significant share of the global biodiversity. The country is comprised of various types of ecosystems, including tropical and cloud forests, mangroves, wetlands, and marine areas, making it a popular destination for tourists and nature enthusiasts. The country's economy is mainly driven by agriculture, particularly coffee and banana production, as well as tourism, technology services, and manufacturing. Despite being a developing country, Costa Rica has a high standard of living, a strong focus on education, healthcare, and social welfare, and it is considered one of the happiest countries in the world.

The Mammals of Costa Rica

The Mammals of Costa Rica PDF Author: Mark Wainwright
Publisher: Comstock Publishing Associates
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
"First published 2002 as The natural history of Costa Rican mammals by Zona Tropical"--T.p. verso.

The Costa Rica Reader

The Costa Rica Reader PDF Author: Steven Palmer
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822382814
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Long characterized as an exceptional country within Latin America, Costa Rica has been hailed as a democratic oasis in a continent scorched by dictatorship and revolution; the ecological mecca of a biosphere laid waste by deforestation and urban blight; and an egalitarian, middle-class society blissfully immune to the violent class and racial conflicts that have haunted the region. Arguing that conceptions of Costa Rica as a happy anomaly downplay its rich heritage and diverse population, The Costa Rica Reader brings together texts and artwork that reveal the complexity of the country’s past and present. It characterizes Costa Rica as a site of alternatives and possibilities that undermine stereotypes about the region’s history and challenge the idea that current dilemmas facing Latin America are inevitable or insoluble. This essential introduction to Costa Rica includes more than fifty texts related to the country’s history, culture, politics, and natural environment. Most of these newspaper accounts, histories, petitions, memoirs, poems, and essays are written by Costa Ricans. Many appear here in English for the first time. The authors are men and women, young and old, scholars, farmers, workers, and activists. The Costa Rica Reader presents a panoply of voices: eloquent working-class raconteurs from San José’s poorest barrios, English-speaking Afro-Antilleans of the Limón province, Nicaraguan immigrants, factory workers, dissident members of the intelligentsia, and indigenous people struggling to preserve their culture. With more than forty images, the collection showcases sculptures, photographs, maps, cartoons, and fliers. From the time before the arrival of the Spanish, through the rise of the coffee plantations and the Civil War of 1948, up to participation in today’s globalized world, Costa Rica’s remarkable history comes alive. The Costa Rica Reader is a necessary resource for scholars, students, and travelers alike.

Costa Rica - Culture Smart!

Costa Rica - Culture Smart! PDF Author: Jane Koutnik
Publisher: Bravo Limited
ISBN: 1857336666
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
Costa Rica is renowned for its tropical beauty, the warmth and charm of the "Ticos"—its people's own name for themselves—and its political stability. This "Switzerland of the Americas" is widely regarded as an oasis of democracy in turbulent Central America. Since the first edition of Culture Smart! Costa Rica was published in 2005, however, there have been some important changes and, with rapid economic development, some growing pains. Over the past few years there has been a movement of population to the towns of the Central Valley. Higher education is now the norm for young Ticos, and the middle class has expanded—but so has the gap between rich and poor. Tourism took a dive after the 2009 recession, and the national debt has grown, while the arrival of multinationals and significant Chinese investment has been welcomed. Unemployment has risen, people are prepared to go on strike more readily, and there is a general disillusionment with politicians. In the face of mounting difficulties the Ticos remain remarkably peaceable, relaxed, and fun-loving. Their enthusiasm for life is seen as much in their passion for soccer as in their demonstrations in support of human and political rights. Culture Smart! Costa Rica explores and explains the complex human realities of modern Costa Rican life. Armed with this information, you will be better equipped to understand your hosts and to enjoy your visit to this beguiling and beautiful country to the full.

Costa Rica Before Coffee

Costa Rica Before Coffee PDF Author: Lowell Gudmundson
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 9780807125724
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Costa Rica Before Coffee centers on the decade of the 1840s, when the impact of coffee and export agriculture began to revolutionize Costa Rican society. Lowell Gudmundson focuses on the nature of the society prior to the coffee boom, but he also makes observations on the entire sweep of Costa Rican history, from earliest colonial times to the present, and in his final chapter compares the country's development and agrarian structures with those of other Latin American nations. These wide-ranging applications follow inevitably, since the author convincingly portrays the 1840s as they key decade in any interpretation of Costa Rican history.Gudmundson synthesizes and questions the existing historical literature on Costa Rica, relegating much of it to the realm of myth. He attacks what he calls the rural democratic myth (or rural egalitarian model) of Costa Rica's past, a myth that he argues has pervaded the country's historiography and politics and has had a huge impact on its image abroad and on its citizens' self-image. The rural democratic myth paints a rather idyllic picture of the country's past. It holds that prior to the coffee boom, the vast majority of Costa Rica's population was made up of peasants who owned small farms and were largely self-sufficient. These peasants enjoyed a high degree of social and economic quality; there were no important social distinctions and little division of labor. According to the myth, the primary source of this relatively egalitarian social order was the period of colonial rule, which ended in 1821. The new developments wrought by coffee and agrarian capitalism are seen as destructive of this rural democracy and as leading directly to unprecedented social problems that arose as a result of division of labor, rapid population growth, and widespread class antagonism.Gudmundson rejects virtually all of the components of this rural egalitarian model for pre-coffee society and reinterprets the early impact of coffee. He uses an array of sources, including census records, notary archives, and probate inventories, many of them previously unknown or unused, to analyze the country's social hierarchy, the division of labor, the distribution of wealth, various forms of private and communal land tenure, differentiation between cities and villages, household and family structure, and the elite before and after the rise of coffee. His powerful conclusion is that rather than reflecting the complexities of Costa Rican history, the rural egalitarian model is largely a construct of coffee culture itself, used to support the order that supplanted the colonial regime. Gudmundson ultimately reveals that the conceptual framework of the rural democratic myth has been limiting both to is supporters and to its opponents. Costa Rica Before Coffee proposes an alternative to the myth, on that emphasizes the complexity of agrarian history and breaks important new ground.