Puntarenas

Infobox City
official_name = Puntarenas
native_name = Ciudad de Puntarenas
nickname = La perla del Pacífico, El Puerto

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imagesize=300px
map_caption = Location in the province of Puntarenas
pushpin_

pushpin_mapsize=300
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Costa Rica
subdivision_type1 = Province
subdivision_name1 = Puntarenas
subdivision_type2 = Canton
subdivision_name2 = Puntarenas
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Agnes Gomez Franceschi
area_magnitude = 1 E9
area_total_sq_mi =
area_total_km2 = 10
area_land_sq_mi =
area_land_km2 = 30
area_water_sq_mi = 25
area_water_km2 =
population_as_of = 2000
population_total = 102,504
timezone = Central
utc_offset = -6
latd=9 |latm=58 |lats= |latNS=N
longd=84 |longm=50 |longs= |longEW=W
elevation_ft = 16
elevation_m = 5
website = http://www.munipuntarenas.go.cr/ footnotes =

Puntarenas, which means "Sandy Point" in Spanish, is the capital and largest city in the province Puntarenas, Costa Rica, at the Pacific coast. The eponymous and oddly shaped province has its largest section in the South, far from the capital.

Its port, Caldera, is one of the main ports in the country. Some 100,000 live in the city and close towns. With beaches on the Pacific Ocean, it also attracts many tourists, especially surfers. It is also a possible stopover point for the touristy Monteverde, further inland.

History

First known as Villa Bruselas in colonial times, Puntarenas was discovered by Hernán Ponce de León in 1519. Despite the use of the Gulf of Nicoya as an entryway to Costa Rica's inland territory, the port of Puntarenas was not developed until 1840 when coffee production in the highlands reached exportable volumes. In 1845 the Congress of the Republic declared Puntarenas a duty free port (with the exception of Cognac and hard liquor). Originally, the coffee was brought to port in oxcarts via a trail through the mountains. In 1879, a stretch of railroad track was completed which connected Puntarenas with the town of Esparza (one of the country's earliest Spanish settlements, founded in 1554, a decade before the Central Valley began to be colonized) where the oxcart trail came out of the mountains. Eventually, the railroad was built all the way through to San José and service was inaugurated in 1910. With the railroad connection to the Central Valley, the Pacific port's activities continued to be a major part of the region's economy throughout the 20th century. However, due to the aging and deterioration of the port facilities and the need to accommodate the much larger vessels of modern shipping fleets, a new port was constructed in the 1980s to the south of Puntarenas. The site chosen was Caldera, where ships had anchored during colonial times.

External links

* [http://www.pfc.co.cr/ Puntarenas FC] es_icon Puntarenas soccer team official site
* [http://www.puntarenas.com/carnavales/ Carnavales Puntarenas] es_icon Puntarenas carnaval official site
* [http://www.yourtravelmap.com/costarica/gallery/puntarenas/ Photos of Puntarenas] de_icon en_icon es_icon
* [http://www.visitcostarica.com/ Instituto Costarricense de Turismo] en_icon es_icon nl_icon fr_icon Costa Rican Institute of Tourism
* [http://www.costaricadatabase.com/ Puntarenas City Search] en_icon Puntarenas population, elevation, road maps, satellite photographs and more.