COSTA
41 S
COSTA
of the hot section is stated as varying between 72° and
82° Fahr; of the temperate zone, from 57° to 78 de-
grees. Mahogany, cedar, rosewood and other pre-
cious woods for building and decorative purposes are
scattered through its forests, also dye-woods. Medic-
inal plants are numerous and india-rubber of the spe-
cies called Castilloa elaslica. Among resinous plants
copal and the Myroxylum, producing Peru and tolu
balsams, abound. The chief agricultural products are
coffee, bananas, tobacco, cocoa. Cotton and indigo are
also raised. Most of the cultivated plants were im-
ported from Europe by the Spaniards. Nearly if
not all larger mammals of the torrid zones of America
are foimd. To entomologists Costa Rica is a rich
field. There are mines of gold, silver, copper and
lead. Gold was discovered as early as Columbus'
last voyage in 1502, and the number of gold ornaments
found in the hands of the Indians, as well as the auri-
ferous sands of the rivers, gave the newly discovered
country its name CJosta Rica, "the rich coast". In
1815 the rich gold district of Monte del Aguacate was
first brought to notice by Bishop Garcia of Nicaragua
and Leon. No general mining statistics exist. Min-
ing laws are rather confused, being a mixture of former
Spanish ordinances with modern amendments. But
mining-machinery is imported free of duty and
neither the Government nor municipalities levy any
taxes on mining property.
Costa Rica became independent of Spain in 1821 and was a member of the Central American confederacy from 1824 to 1848 when that confederacy was dis- solved. In 1870-1871 a constitution was adopted which has been modified repeatedly since. The exe- cutive head of the republic is a president, but there have been several dictators. The president is elected, for four years, indirectly through electors chosen by the people, and cannot serve a second term. He is assisted by four secretaries. There is no vice-presi- dent. In case of the inability of the president to dis- charge his duties, he is replaced by one of three per- sons designated by Congress, at the first session in each presidential term. Congress consists of only one house. Its members are also indirectly chosen by the people for four years, one member for every 8000 in- habitants, and one-half are elected every two years. Members of the supreme court of justice are ap- pointed by Congress. The territory is divided politi- cally into five pro\'inces at the head of each of which is a governor appointed by the president. Costa Rica has a civil code, a code of civil procedure and, since 1888, a judiciary law. Trial by jury takes place only in criminal cases.
By the Constitution, art. 51., "The Catholic Apos- tolic Roman is the religion of the state which contrib- utes to its maintenance without impeding the exercise in the republic of any other religion not opposed to universal morality and good behaviour" {buenas cos- tumbres). By the Concordat (7 October, 1852) the jurisdiction previously exercised from the time of the Spanish occupation by the ecclesiastical authorities in litigations involving Church possessions or the tem- poral rights of the Church, passed over to the civil tri- bunals, but it was stipulated at the same time that, in the courts of thesecond and the third instance, legal trial of criminal cases involving priests required the assists ance as judicial assessors of ecclesiastics nominated by the bishop. In 1908, no Apostolic delegate having been appointed for Costa Rica since the year 1882, Pius X communicated to the republic his wish to re- establish the delegation there. The republic's repre- sentative at the Vatican answered that the govern- ment welcomed the idea, and begged His Holiness to give the new delegate the character of envoy to the republic, to which the pope assented. The envoy-ex- traordinary and Ajiostolic delegate named was Mgr. Giovanni Cagliera, titular Archbi.shop of Sebaste.
Up to 1850 the Bishop of Leon (Nicaragua) was also
administrator of Costa Rica. The first Bishop of
Costa Rica, Anselmo Llorente y Lafuente, was conse-
crated in Guatemala, 7 September, 1851, and installed
5 January, 1852. Bishop B. A. Thiel (b. at Elber-
feld, 1850; d. at. San Jose, 1901) a Lazarist, who was
professor of theology in Ecuador and banished for de-
fending the Jesuits, was appointed Bishop of San Jos< |j
in 1880. He was an explorer, a student of Indiar |^,
languages, and the founder of an ethnographic anc ji]
biological museum at San Jose. He translated a num-
ber of religious works from German into Spanish anc
wrote "Idiomas de los Indios"; "Viajes" (1897) anc
"Datos cronol. para la Hist, ec."^ de Costa Rica"
There are forty-two parishes in the republic. The St.
Vincent de Paul conferences are verj' active. In 1899
they had 1396 members. In San Jos6 there are six.
linn.
ix.|
Women's St. Vincent de Paul auxiliaries are organized^ |k(. in nearly all the cities. In 1899 they distributed $26,-] i^j 208. Since the Plenary Council of Latin America! ^^ (1899) sponsalia (see Betrothal) to be valid must be p, publicly recorded. In 1890 the public treasury con- j^j tributed 19,404 pesos to the support of the Church, j,;;. Primary education is free and compulsory. Its im- pjpj, mediate direction belongs to the municipalities, the jf^t; national executive, however, reserves the right of gen- ^ [, eral supervision. Art. 53 of the Constitution permita ,,j,; every Costa Rican to give or to receive what instruo- ^tfts tion he pleases in any educational establishment not ^ supported by public funds. The budget of public i^.,, instruction rose from 137,677.77 in 1890 to 235,203 .y, pesos in 1902, when there were six higher schools, one jj), normal school, and 306 primary schools, the latter, ^^ with 17,746 pupils. _ ' ^^
After Costa Rica was discovered by Columbus ir ^y 1502, Diego de Nicuesa attempted to colonize it ir ^^^' 1509, but it was fourteen years later when Francisct jnjB Hernandez made a settlement in the country, and ib inik conquest was only gradually perfected after 1526 "'"* Several tribes of the isthmus spoke a language allied t( the Chibcha of Colombia. Among these, it seemi jjji^ that the Talamancas and Guaymis were the mos j^^j^ prominent. The former held the eastern coast, ex , ij tending to the boundary of Nicaragua, the latter Hvei ,^^.1 mostly in what is now the Republic of Panama. ^ ^ij^,], tribe, to which the Spanish name of Yalientes has bee -^ given, also belonged to Costa Rica. In culture, espe ^^^ cially in the working of gold and silver, the Guaymi jj^j resembled the Chibcha. All these aborigines wer ( jj groujjed in small independent tribes and their resisi jjj, ance to the European invaders was protracted ratht ^jj! by natural obstacles than through actual powe |X During Spanish colonial times Costa Rica had sixtj ^..jT two successive rulers, — governors (adelantados), et („■ • and was regarded as a province of Guatemala. ^ '
Thiel. La Iglesia Cattolica en Costa Rica in Revisia de c. I. < ^C}'} el Siglo XIX (San Jos^, 1902). For the earliest period of di •"' CQvery and Spanish colonization of Costa Rica, the lettei^ f' Columbus are indispensable. Additional information is ^i\i bv Navarrete, Coleccion de Viajes y Descnbrimienios (Madri 1829). 0\lEDO, HM. general (Madrid, 1850); Gomara. // toria general de las Indias (.\ntwerp, 1554); Fernandez. // toria de Costa Rica durante la dominacif/n espanola (Madri'L 1889); MouNA, Bosquejo de Costa Rica (London, 1S.J1 Calvo, Repiiblica de Costa Rica (San Jos^, 1887); PeraliJ Costa Rica, Nicaragua y Fajiaind en el siglo XVI (Madrid ai ^x In- Paris, 1883); Idem, Costa Rica y Colombia, de 157^ d U fiir^^li (Madrid, 1886); Villa vicencio. Repiiblica de Costa Rica (S ,-, ,, ™ Jose, 1!^^()'; PiTTii R, A^>llnlllmk■ntossobre el Clima yGeogm ', ■"* d. / /. ' ■; ' >:in Jos^, 1890); Mohelot. K '■•'.itfn,!
<,-;. I '.ins, 1839); Belly. .4 trot. i,A
- ■ 1 ! ,
- - : Wagner. OiV ff.pufc/a- t , '." "'
(■,./, ' 1 .' I .'ipzig. 1856); VON SrHKRIl ^'aljil,
Wand.r,i,i,fn ,1'irrh ,!„■ Miltrhimerikanischen Freistaal 'aii^i (Brunswick, 1857); Froebel. Aus Amfrika (LeipziE, ISS f,,,,, , 18S8); Sqi'IER. The Stairs of Central America (New Yo: . ,,'™' 1858). The numerous official reports bv the (iovernment a "'91. consular reports of U. S. officials; Bureau of .-Vmerican Kepi fe; ,» lies. Costa Rica (WashinRton, 1.S92). On I.infcuistics: Ludkw |,,i ,/' Literature of American Abori,;irial Languages (London, ISft ., * Brinton, ne -tnu-ncnn /fare (.\ew York. 1S91); FernXnj i «| Dociimentos para la hist, de Costa Rica (San Jos^, 1881-188 -i fldatl DXvila. Teatro ec.ca de la primiliva Iglesia de las Indias oce i» I (Madrid, lfi49). -! *
An. V. BAiiDEUEB. 'Wnte
