COSTA RICA (ante). This republic has been an independent state since 1821, from 1824 to 1839 forming a part of the confederation of Central America, and subsequently separate; now governed under the-constitution of Dee, 22, 1871. The legislative power ie vested in a congress of one ehtt-mber,• chosen in electoral assemblies, the members of .
which are returned by universal suffrage. The congressmen are elected for four one half retiring every two years. The executive authority is in the hands of a president, elected in the same manner as the congress for four-yea• terms. He is assisted by two vice-presidents, elected annually by the congress. In recent years, there have been con , stant changes by revolutions and wars, so that few presidents have served their full: terms.. The administration is carried on by the ministers of justice and the interior, of public instruction and foreign affairs, of finance and commerce, and of public works. The latest estimate of the area of the republic is 26,040 sq. miles. There exist only vague estimates of the population, which is supposed to number from 180,000 to 190,000, but stated at twice as much in government returns. The exports of the country con sist almost entirely of coffee. In 1874, there was in process of construction •a line of railway from Alajuela to Limon, 114 m., destined to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. At the close of June, 1877, there were in all the country 200 m. of telegraph lines. The old weights and measures of Spain arc in use, but the French metric system will probably soon be introduced.
. Costa Rica is exceedingly fertile, its forests filled with an immense variety of timber and useful dye-woods, such as mahogany, ebony, india-rubber, Brazil wood, and oak. Nearly all the fruits of the tropical and temperate zones thrive well, and flower ing plants arc in great profusion. Coffee, rice, maize, barley, potatoes, beans, and bananas are cultivated in the interior; cocoa, vanilla, sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, and indigo on the warmer coast lands. In the forests arc thejaguar, tapir, ocelot, puma, deer,: and wild pig. Birds of all kinds, including the splendid quetzalor trogen, fill the woods. Among reptiles are the alligator, the iguana, and many other lizards, the Bobo, • the.black-snake, and the rattlesnake. Among domestic animals, oxen and mules are the
most valuable. There are no manufacturing-industries worth noticing; but the country is rich in gold, silver, copper, iron, nickel, zinc, lead, and marble, of which only gold, silver, and copper have been worked. The country is divided into the six provinces of San Jose, Cartago, Heredia, Alajuela, Guanacaste, and Punta Arenas.
Costa Rica was one of the earliest discovered parts of America; Columbus touched ' its shores on his third voyage. In 1821, when all the provinces which formed the king. don of Guatemala declared their independence of Spain, two parties—one desiring union with Mexico under the dynasty of Iturbide, the other seeking to form a separate repuly, lie—divided opinions in the revolted provinces. In Costa Rica, the town of Cartago 7 chose the former, and San Jose the latter. The opposing factions met, and the repubii- ' cans were victorious, whereupon the scat of government was transferred from Cartago -! to San Jose. In 1824, Costa Rica joined the Central American confederation; but that union was dissolved in 1839. In 1856, fearing for her own safety, the republic declared' war against the filibuster William Walker, who had taken possession of Nicaragua. The Costa Rican forces, led by the president, Don Juan Mora, met 'Walker's troops under col. Schlesinger near Santa Rosa, routed them, followed them into Nicaragua, and, in conjunction with the forces of the other states, surrounded Walker in the city of Rivas, forcing his surrender to the commander of the United States sloop St. Mary's, under • whose protection he left the country. On the 17th. of Feb., 1872, the ministers plenipo tentiary of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and San Salvador formed another Central '7' American union, consisting of the independent republics named. The main objects a this union are to preserve the autonomy and integrity of Central American territory, to — maintain the peace of the several states, to insure to cacti a republican form of govern. ment, to guarantee to every citizen full political liberty, and to promote progress, moral, intellectual, and material. Slavery was denounced, confiscation abolished, and the • extradition of political offenders prohibited.