Costa Rica is often called tropical Switzerland. This is the most prosperous and calmest of the Central America countries. The state of Costa Rica has never experienced intense social disruptions. The country is also considered the ‘whitest’ country of the region; there are less than 1% of the natives left, and the majority of population is descendents of people of Spanish ethnicity, creoles.
Costa Rica, which translates literally as ‘Rich Coast’, was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502, at the time of his fourth voyage to the New World. Spanish sailors were met at the coast by Indians wearing golden plates, hence the coast was named ‘golden’. But gold was never found in this place, so the coast was renamed into ‘rich’.
Indian tribes have lived here since long. They were Borucas, Guayami, Huetares, Chorotegas (‘the running people’) – the most numerous Costa Rica’s tribe driven away from Mexico by Olmecs. It is known that Indians lived in settlements and farmed. Women did the housekeeping, and men were engaged in hunting and wars. Indians had developed trade; cocoa beans served as coins. There are even known cases of their forgery: the bean shell was filled with clay and the cut was plastered over.
Huge stone balls of different size weighing several tons were found in the jungles. They must have been made by Borucas. Scientists have been for many years puzzled with questions like how those balls were used and how such a perfect shape could have been achieved.
In the past, Costa Rica was considered a ‘banana republic’. But today the country has 9 free trade zones. It is currently the basic country of the Central America where it is not frightening to invest money, a pillar of democracy. The state receives the funds necessary for the development mainly due to its unique natural environment.