Costa Rica: Physical Geography

Costa Rica occupies a narrow strip of Central America between Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south, with coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The country covers roughly 51,100 square kilometers, a land area similar in size to West Virginia, and its terrain is dominated less by lowlands than by a chain of mountains running the length of the isthmus. Cocos Island, a remote volcanic outcrop far off the Pacific coast, and dozens of smaller islands fall within Costa Rican territory as well.

Four mountain ranges form the country's backbone: the Cordillera de Guanacaste in the north, the Cordillera Central near the capital of San Jose, the Cordillera de Talamanca in the south, and the lower Cerros de Escazu. These ranges belong to the Central America Volcanic Arc, and Costa Rica counts more than a hundred volcanic cones among its peaks, including the historically active Irazu, Poas, and Arenal volcanoes. The country's highest point, Cerro Chirripo, rises to roughly 3,820 meters in the Talamanca range near the border with Panama.

Between the mountains and the coasts lie fertile lowlands and valleys, including the densely populated Central Valley, while rivers such as the Terraba drain toward either the Pacific or the Caribbean depending on which side of the continental divide they begin. Lake Arenal, the country's largest lake, supplies hydroelectric power. Forest still covers roughly half of Costa Rica's land, much of it protected, and the country experiences frequent earthquakes as well as occasional hurricane-related flooding along its Caribbean coast.