ABSTRACT

Costa Rica is the second smallest country in Central America, with an area of 51,100 km2, and extends from approximately Lat. 8° to 11°N and between Long. 83° and 86°W. Costa Rica is bordered by Nicaragua on the north, Panama on the south, the Caribbean Sea on the east, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It has an elongated form that stretches from northeast to southeast with a greatest length of 480 km on the northwest-southeast axis and a narrowest width between the Caribbean and the Pacific of only 118 km (Figure 12.1).