Cartago is a
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
in
Costa RicaCosta Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...
, about 25 km (15 miles) east of the capital,
San JoséSan is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation....
. It is at an elevation of about 1435 m (some 4,707 ft) above
sea levelMean sea level is the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation.- Measurement :...
, at the base of the
Irazú VolcanoThe Irazú Volcano is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago. Its name could come from either the combination of "ara" and "tzu" or a corruption of Iztarú, which was the name of an indigenous village on the flanks of the volcano...
. Cartago is the capital of
Cartago provinceCartago is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the central part of the country. Bordering provinces are Limón to the east and San José to the west. The capital is Cartago and it was formerly the capital city of Costa Rica until 1823 when the capital was changed to San Jose. The province...
. The city covers an area of 152,68 km². It includes the districts of city downtown: Oriental, Occidental (known as the typical downtown area), San Nicolás (the main entrance to the city, at west), El Carmen (north), San Rafael de Oreamuno (at east, is the capital of canton of Oreamuno), Dulce Nombre and San Francisco (at south, San Francisco is known commonly as Aguacaliente).
Cartago is a
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
in
Costa RicaCosta Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...
, about 25 km (15 miles) east of the capital,
San JoséSan is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation....
. It is at an elevation of about 1435 m (some 4,707 ft) above
sea levelMean sea level is the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation.- Measurement :...
, at the base of the
Irazú VolcanoThe Irazú Volcano is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago. Its name could come from either the combination of "ara" and "tzu" or a corruption of Iztarú, which was the name of an indigenous village on the flanks of the volcano...
. Cartago is the capital of
Cartago provinceCartago is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the central part of the country. Bordering provinces are Limón to the east and San José to the west. The capital is Cartago and it was formerly the capital city of Costa Rica until 1823 when the capital was changed to San Jose. The province...
. The city covers an area of 152,68 km². It includes the districts of city downtown: Oriental, Occidental (known as the typical downtown area), San Nicolás (the main entrance to the city, at west), El Carmen (north), San Rafael de Oreamuno (at east, is the capital of canton of Oreamuno), Dulce Nombre and San Francisco (at south, San Francisco is known commonly as Aguacaliente). In 2008 the city will have a
populationIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings. Individuals within a population share a factor may be reduced by statistical means, but such a generalization may be too vague to imply anything...
of 156,600 inhabitants, according to the Statistics and Census Institute of Costa Rica.
History
Cartago was founded in 1563 by
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
conquistadorConquistador is the term widely used to refer to the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th through the 17th centuries following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
Juan Vázquez de CoronadoJuan Vázquez de Coronado y Anaya was a Spanish conquistador, Conqueror, first Governor and first Adelantado of Costa Rica according to a mercy granted by King Philip II at Aranjuez on April 8, 1565...
, and is the oldest still existing Spanish settlement in Costa Rica. The city was granted a coat of arms by King
Philip II of SpainPhilip II was King of Spain and Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, during his wife Mary Tudor's reign, King of England and Ireland...
in 1565, and the title of Muy Noble y Muy Leal ("Most Noble and Most Loyal") by the
CortesThe Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
(Spanish Parliament) in 1814. It served as the first capital of Costa Rica until 1823, when Republican leader Gregorio Jose Ramirez , moved the capital to the bigger city of San José, because Cartago wanted to unite the newly independent province of
Costa RicaCosta Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.Costa Rica, which translates literally as "Rich Coast", constitutionally...
to the Iturbide's Mexican Empire while San Jose and Alajuela supported a Republican system.
The city was
severely damagedEarthquake engineering is the study of the behavior of buildings and structures subject to seismic loading. It is a subset of both structural and civil engineering. Eminent authority on seismic risk mitigation, Caltech professor George W. Housner is widely considered as the 'father' of the modern...
by major
earthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph...
s in 1822, 1841 and 1910. In 1963, a volcanic eruption of Irazu Volcano which for two years covered San José in
ashVolcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
badly damaged some agricultural areas around Cartago, but not the city.
Many
pilgrimsIn religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of many major religions participate in pilgrimages...
come to Cartago annually, to visit the national's principal church, the enormous Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles, on the feast day of the Virgin of the Angels (August 2). The church has a statue of the
Black MadonnaA Black Madonna or Black Virgin is a statue or painting of Mary in which she is depicted with dark or black skin, especially those created in Europe in the medieval period or earlier...
known as La Negrita, who supposedly had great healing powers. The sick come to her statue in hope of a
miracleA miracle is a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can be attempted to be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle worker. Many folktales, religious texts, and people claim various events they refer to as "miraculous". People in different...
from La Negrita.
According to folklore in Costa Rica, the statue was found by an indigenous girl in 1635. She brought it home several times, but it mysteriously reappeared at its original site. The rock where she found it is now kept in a backroom in the basilica and is revered as a sacred relic and object of inspiration. The rock is supposed to be in the same location it was when La Negrita was found, but it has been moved as the basilica was rebuilt (see below). It is common for pilgrims to touch the rock in reverence.
The central park in Cartago includes the "ruins" of the main church of Cartago (the "parroquia" of Santiago Apóstol), about five block west from the basilica. Despite their beauty, they are not real ruins but an unfinished building, which was badly damaged by the 1910 earthquake and then interrupted. The city's government is declaring 100 blocks as "the Cartago's historical center." This is a way to keep the historical buildings alive in the future, as many cities in the world have done. In the other hand, the Government of the city and JASEC (the company that offers the electrical service in the city) has been working both to light some of the most important historical buildings and to attract inhabitants and tourists to the city at night.
The main products of the region are potatoes, onions,
milkMilk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It provides the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. The early lactation milk is known as colostrum, and carries the mother's antibodies to the baby. It can reduce...
, and orchids. These used to support more than 90% of the city's economy although other resources such as
computerA computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century . These were the size of a large room, consuming as...
technologies have risen since the last
decadeA decade is a period of ten years. The word is derived from the late Latin decas, from Greek decas, from deca. The other words for spans of years also come from Latin: lustrum , century , millennium . The term usually refers to a period of ten years starting at a multiple of ten...
.
The province is known for its rich ecological diversity and dense tropical rainforests along the mountain ranges near the Irazu and
TurrialbaTurrialba Volcano was named after the region of Costa Rica in which the volcano is situated in Turrialba County, Cartago of Costa Rica. There is no clear consensus on the origin of the name Turrialba, but historians disagree with attempts to attribute the name to the patronym Torrealba or from...
volcanoes.
Cartago is home of the
Costa Rica Institute of TechnologyThe Costa Rica Institute of Technology or Technological Institute of Costa Rica , also known as "ITCR" or "TEC", is a public educational institute in Cartago, Costa Rica...
, one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in the country and one of Central America's most important engineering schools.
Cities within metropolitan area
- Paraíso
Paraíso is a small city in Costa Rica, located 8km southeast of Cartago City. It is a tourist attraction due to its exceptionally beautiful surrounding locales.-Points of Interest:...
- Oreamuno
- El Guarco