101. Global March Against Child Labour - From Exploitation To Education In most countries, indigenous people are not members of the dominant, DNI costa rica is the subregional coordinator of the Global March Against Child http://www.globalmarch.org/news/index.php

102. Costa Rica - History & Culture Regrettably, only 1 percent of costa s rica s 3 million people are of indigenousheritage. An overwhelming 98 percent of the country is white, http://www.geographia.com/costa-rica/history.htm

COSTA RICA T he first European explorer to encounter Costa Rica was the Great Navigator himself, Christopher Columbus. The day was September 18, 1502, and Columbus was making his fourth and final voyage to the New World. As he was setting anchor off shore, a crowd of local Carib Indians paddled out in canoes and greeted his crew warmly. Later, the golden bands that the region's inhabitants wore in their noses and ears would inspire the Spaniard Gil Gonzalez Davila to name the country Costa Rica , or Rich Coast. Archaeologists now know that civilization existed in Costa Rica for thousands of years before the arrival of Columbus, and evidence of human occupation in the region dates back 10,000 years. Among the cultural mysteries left behind by the area's pre-Columbian inhabitants are thousands of perfectly spherical granite bolas that have been found near the west coast. The sizes of these inimitable relics range from that of a baseball to that of a Volkswagen bus. Ruins of a large, ancient city complete with aqueducts were recently found east of San Jose, and some marvelously sophisticated gold and jade work was being wrought in the southwest as far back as 1,000 years ago. Some archeological sites in the central highlands and Nicoya peninsula have shown evidence of influence from the Mexican Olmec and Nahuatl civilizations. By the time the Columbus arrived, there were four major indigenous tribes living in Costa Rica. The east coast was the realm of the Caribs, while the Borucas, Chibchas, and Diquis resided in the southwest. Only a few hundred thousand strong to begin with, none of these peoples lasted long after the dawn of Spanish colonialism. Some fled, while many others perished from the deadly smallpox brought by the Spaniards. Having decimated the indigenous labor force, the Spanish followed a common policy and brought in African slaves to work the land. Seventy thousand of their descendants live in Costa Rica today, and the country is known for good relations among races. Regrettably, only 1 percent of Costa's Rica's 3 million people are of indigenous heritage. An overwhelming 98 percent of the country is white, and those of Spanish descent call themselves

103. Costa Rica General Information GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE costa rica is the second smallest country in CentralAmerica after The people have a strong sense of democracy. costa ricans are http://www.crica.com/info/info_intro.html

An Introduction To Costa Rica SIZE: 51,060 square kms (19,714 square miles) POPULATION: 4 million, (source: World Bank). CAPITAL CITY: San Jose, estimated population : 1,200,000 LOCAL TIME DIFFERENCE: GMT minus 6 hours. LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Spanish is the official language, although English is widely spoken in the business community and at most tourist destinations. RELIGION: Majority Roman Catholic, then Evangelical; Methodist; Baptist; Episcopalian; Jewish and Bahai Faith. ETHNIC MAKEUP: The majority of the population, 98 per cent, is white or racially mixed, except in Limon province on the Caribbean coast, where an estimated 70,000 blacks and 5,000 Indigenous people live. The Northern Guanacaste province also has a sizeable Indigenous population. GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE: Costa Rica is the second smallest country in Central America after El Salvador. The country lies between Nicaragua and Panama, and has coastlines on the Caribbean and the Pacific. A low, thin line of hills between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific is prolonged into northern Costa Rica, broadening and rising into high and rugged mountains in the center and south. The capital city, San Jose, lies in a central basin set in these highlands. Both coasts have lowland areas. The sparsely inhabited east coast has a narrow swamp strip and tropical forests as the terrain slopes inland. The Pacific coast has two peninsulas: the mountainous Nicoya peninsula in the north and the lowland Osa peninsula in the south. A rich lowland savannah patched by deciduous forests stretches along the Pacific coast between the two peninsulas.

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