Limón Province

Limón is a province of Costa Rica on the Atlantic coast. The neighboring territories are (clockwise) Panama, Costa Rican provinces of Puntarenas, San José, Cartago and Heredia and Nicaragua. The capital city of Puerto Limón has the largest container port of Costa Rica, through the export of commodities such as coffee and bananas is possible. The province has an area of ​​9189 km ² and 386 862 (2011) inhabitants. About 50 percent of residents are of Caribbean descent, mostly from Jamaica. In addition to the Spanish language, an English creole is spoken.

History

In 1502 reached the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus, after he discovered the Americas in 1492, the small island of Uvita, which is 700 m from the dock of the present-day sea port of Puerto Limón. Then he explored the coast of the present province of Limón. The name Limón derives from a lemon tree (Spanish arbol de limón ), who apparently stood before the house of the then governor. First, the area was sparsely populated and was plagued by pirates and mosquito plagues. Only with the arrival of American companies who were here after growing regions for bananas, began the economic development of the province. After most of the original inhabitants had fled to the poorly accessible highlands, the large-scale colonization began primarily by African slaves who were put to work on the banana plantations. Even today the region is characterized by the cultivation of bananas and makes Costa Rica 's second largest banana exporter in the world.

Tourism

The entire Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is located in Limón. Thus, the province has 336 km white sand beach. In addition, there are national parks for the protection of tropical rainforests and coral reefs, as well as a variety of endangered plant and animal species. For example, the North of the province of Tortuguero National Park. The main source of income of the residents is now tourism and not the tropical deforestation. Over 300 different species of birds, caimans, turtles and other creatures can be seen here and make the area a popular destination for Scientific Research and for the Eco-Tourism.

Administrative divisions

The province is divided into six cantons. Cantons ( with capital ) from north to south:

Alajuela | Cartago | Guanacaste | Heredia | Limón | Puntarenas | San José

• Province in Costa Rica
• Limón province