The History of Costa Rica

The History of Costa Rica
Author: Iván Molina Jiménez
Publisher: Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica
Total Pages: 188
Release: 1998
Genre: Costa Rica
ISBN: 9789977674681

Salvadorans in Costa Rica

Salvadorans in Costa Rica
Author: Bridget A. Hayden
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2003-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780816522941

During the political and economic upheaval that swept El Salvador in the 1980s, as many as 20,000 Salvadorans took refuge in Costa Rica. Despite similarities between the countries, most Salvadorans experienced El Salvador and Costa Rica as very different places; yet some 6,000 chose to remain after the violence in their country ended, re-establishing their lives successfully enough that they claimed that they now "felt Costa Rican." Bridget Hayden examines the ways in which these people integrated into Costa Rican society and the ambiguous sense of identity they developed, exploring their experience of the process and the cultural concepts they used to interpret those experiences. Salvadorans in Costa Rica: Displaced Lives introduces readers to people from a wide range of class and educational backgrounds who had come to Costa Rica from all over El Salvador. All shared the experience of having become refugees and having settled in a new country under the same circumstances, and when the war in their own country ended, they shared a concern about the issues involved in deciding whether to return there. Their diversity allows Hayden to examine the ways in which the language of national identity played out in different contexts and sometimes contradictory ways. Drawing on contemporary theories of migration and space, Hayden identifies the discourses, narratives, and concepts that Salvadorans in Costa Rica had in common and then analyzes the ways in which their experiences and their uses of those discourses varied. She focuses on key spatial concepts that Salvadorans used in talking about displacement and re-emplacement in order to show how they constructed the experience of settlement and how such variables as gender and age influenced their experiences. Because "nationality" was an idiom they used to relate their experiences, she pays particular attention to the role of national belonging and national differenceÑin terms of both the ways in which the Salvadorans were received by Costa Ricans and their reactions to their new lives in Costa Rica. A concluding chapter compares them with Salvadorans who emigrated to other countries. The story of these displaced Salvadorans, focusing on the lives of real people, can give us a new understanding of how individuals feel a sense of belonging to a sociocultural space. By exploring many meanings of the nation and national belonging for different people under varying conditions, Hayden's study provides fresh insights into the dynamics of migration, gender, and nationalism.

The Costa Rica Reader

The Costa Rica Reader
Author: Steven Palmer
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822382814

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 Rican Natural History

Costa Rican Natural History
Author: Daniel H. Janzen
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 829
Release: 2018-12-14
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 022616120X

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

The Ecolaboratory

The Ecolaboratory
Author: Robert Fletcher
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2020-03-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 081654011X

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.

Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia

Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia
Author: Jeffrey Quilter
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2003
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 9780884022947

The lands between Mesoamerica and the Central Andes are famed for the rich diversity of ancient cultures that inhabited them. Throughout this vast region, from about AD 700 until the sixteenth-century Spanish invasion, a rich and varied tradition of goldworking was practiced. The amount of gold produced and worn by native inhabitants was so great that Columbus dubbed the last New World shores he sailed as Costa Rica—the "Rich Coast." Despite the long-recognized importance of the region in its contribution to Pre-Columbian culture, very few books are readily available, especially in English, on these lands of gold. Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia now fills that gap with eleven articles by leading scholars in the field. Issues of culture change, the nature of chiefdom societies, long-distance trade and transport, ideologies of value, and the technologies of goldworking are covered in these essays as are the role of metals as expressions and materializations of spiritual, political, and economic power. These topics are accompanied by new information on the role of stone statuary and lapidary work, craft and trade specialization, and many more topics, including a reevaluation of the concept of the "Intermediate Area." Collectively, the volume provides a new perspective on the prehistory of these lands and includes articles by Latin American scholars whose writings have rarely been published in English.

Costa Rican Ecosystems

Costa Rican Ecosystems
Author: Maarten Kappelle
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 798
Release: 2016-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 022627893X

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."

Lonely Planet Best of Costa Rica 3

Lonely Planet Best of Costa Rica 3
Author: Jade Bremner
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Total Pages: 474
Release: 2021-12
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1838692509

Lonely Planet's Best of Costa Rica is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Lounge on sugar-white beaches in Southern Nicoya, spot sea turtles in Tortuguero, and catch the surf off deserted beaches on the Costa Ballena; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Costa Rica and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Best of Costa Rica: Up-to-date information - all businesses were rechecked before publication to ensure they are still open after 2020’s COVID-19 outbreak Color maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, cuisine, politics Covers San Jose, Monteverde Cloud Forest, Manuel Antonio, Volcan Arenal, Montezuma, Peninsula de Osa, Tortuguero, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Playa Samara, and more The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Best of Costa Rica is filled with inspiring and colorful photos, and focuses on Costa Rica's most popular attractions for those wanting to experience the best of the best. Looking for a more comprehensive guide that recommends both popular and offbeat experiences, and extensively covers all the country has to offer? Check out Lonely Planet's Costa Rica guide. Travelling further afield? Check out Lonely Planet's Best of Central America guide for an in-depth look at all the region has to offer. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, videos, 14 languages, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' – New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveler's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' – Fairfax Media (Australia)

Costa Rica After Coffee

Costa Rica After Coffee
Author: Lowell Gudmundson
Publisher: LSU Press
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2021-10-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807176788

Costa Rica After Coffee explores the political, social, and economic place occupied by the coffee industry in contemporary Costa Rican history. In this follow-up to the 1986 classic Costa Rica Before Coffee, Lowell Gudmundson delves deeply into archival sources, alongside the individual histories of key coffee-growing families, to explore the development of the co-op movement, the rise of the gourmet coffee market, and the societal transformations Costa Rica has undergone as a result of the coffee industry’s powerful presence in the country. While Costa Rican coffee farmers and co-ops experienced a golden age in the 1970s and 1980s, the emergence and expansion of a gourmet coffee market in the 1990s drastically reduced harvest volumes. Meanwhile, urbanization and improved education among the Costa Rican population threatened the continuance of family coffee farms, because of the lack of both farmland and a successor generation of farmers. As the last few decades have seen a rise in tourism and other industries within the country, agricultural exports like coffee have ceased to occupy the same crucial space in the Costa Rican economy. Gudmundson argues that the fulfillment of promises of reform from the co-op era had the paradoxical effect of challenging the endurance of the coffee industry.

The Ticos

The Ticos
Author: Mavis Hiltunen Biesanz
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Total Pages: 322
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781555877378

The authors trace the evolution of Costa Rican culture and institutions from pre-Columbian times through the late 1990s. Particularly concerned with the change wrought by the economic crisis of the 1980s, they base their portrayal on interviews with Costa Ricans; observations of many facets--from coffee plantation work to the deliberations of the Legislature; and readings of journalists, essayists, poets, historians, and others. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR