San Jose | Description, Population, History, Map, & Facts (2024)

San José, capital and largest city of Costa Rica.

Situated in the broad, fertile Valle Central 3,800 feet (1,160 metres) above sea level, it was called Villa Nueva when it was settled in 1736. San José developed slowly as a tobacco centre in the Spanish colonial era. In 1823 the national capital was transferred there from nearby Cartago. In the 1840s the town became one of the important centres of coffee production, which remained the chief source of Costa Rica’s income throughout the 19th century.

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The political, social, and economic centre of Costa Rica, San José grew rapidly in the 20th century, both in population and in area. Most neighbourhoods surrounding the city’s centre were developed in a grid pattern. After 1950 the number of industrial establishments flourished. A transportation hub, San José is an important point on the Inter-American (Pan-American) Highway and is at the junction of express highways to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Air traffic at the international airport, west of the city, increased following the end of the Contra war in neighbouring Nicaragua in 1990 and continues to do so because of the country’s popularity among tourists.

The city is the site of the University of Costa Rica (1940), the oldest and most diverse of San José’s four public universities. Costa Rica’s stability and democratic reputation attract sizable numbers of foreign students to these universities and to the numerous private universities scattered throughout San José.

Some of the city’s historic buildings include a 19th-century cathedral and the National Theatre, modeled after the Paris Opéra. Downtown San José has a unique collection of plazas commemorating the country’s progressive and democratic traditions—notably the Democracy, Culture, and Social Guarantees plazas. There is a small park named for U.S. President John F. Kennedy, memorializing his visit to the country in 1963. Several collections of pre-Columbian goldwork and binational cultural centres are among the attractions in the city. The National Museum, famed for its archaeological and historical exhibits, is housed in a former army garrison. Pop. (2000) city, 309,672; urban agglom., 1,076,188; (2011) city, 288,054; urban agglom., 1,188,019.