Costa Rica

From the chiefdoms and stone spheres of the Diquis to a disarmed democracy of coffee, peace, and rainforest.

Costa Rica occupies a narrow isthmus that long served as a bridge between the civilisations of Mesoamerica and the Andes, where chiefdom societies left the enigmatic stone spheres of the Diquis. Reached by Columbus in 1502 and named the Rich Coast, it became one of Spain's poorest and most isolated colonies, a province of subsistence smallholders within the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Independence came on 15 September 1821 as part of Central America, and after a spell in a regional federation Costa Rica emerged as a separate republic, its society built on coffee and bananas. A brief civil war in 1948 led to the abolition of the army in 1949, since when the country has become renowned for stable democracy, social welfare, and the conservation of its extraordinary biodiversity.