Costa Rica stands out in Central America as a functioning democracy with a smaller than usual difference between rich and poor.

When the Spaniards arrived they didn't plant it with aristocratic estates. Instead farms were small and isolated and run by people who had to look after their own livings. There were no easy riches in the form of gold so that the Spanish colonial administration largely ignored the country. There were also few natives there when it was found by the Europeans.

Independence came in 1821. In 1822 it was part of the Mexican Empire. From 1823-38 it was part of United Provinces of Central America.

Honest democracy is said to have began in 1890 when there was an election and power peacefully passed from one party to another. After an attempted coup in 1949 and a short civil war the army was abolished and its functions transferred to a National Guard under civilian control.

At present it is a more prosperous country than all its neighbors, though it has a large foreign debt, a rapidly increasing population and an economy which is tending to stagnate.

Spanish

Creole (Caribbean side)

The only democratic state in Central America. Elections have been held and peaceful change of government is the norm, and has been since the end of the second world war.

The economy consists of medium sized business and is not dominated by large landholdings as found in much of Central America. Cattle grazing, coffee, tropical fruits as well as temperate crops provide a varied economy. Perhaps these are the conditions which have favored democracy.

Costa Rica is the site of debt-swap programs in which foreign debt is canceled in exchange for protection of tropical forests. This is a possible method of protecting forests in other tropical countries. The rationale is that the ecological services provided by the forests - climate control, carbon absorption, medical potential, species diversity - are of benefit to the whole world and therefore should be paid for by the rest of the world.

Good, especially in comparison to the neighbors.