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San
José
San José is the capital and largest city of
the nation of Costa Rica. It is also the capital of the San José
Province. San José is located in the center of the country ; it is on a
mountain plateau at an elevation of about 1,170 meters (3,839 feet) above sea
level.
According to the 2000 census, the city had a population of
309,672 people in San José Canton: the latter half of the 20th century
was a period of rapid growth for the city, considering that in 1950 its
population was a mere 86,900. The metropolitan area of San José exceeds
the canton limits and surpasses one million inhabitants.
San
José was a small village of little significance until 1824. In that
year, Costa Rica's first elected head of state, liberal Juan Mora
Fernández, decided to move the government of Costa Rica from the old
Spanish colonial capital of Cartago and make a fresh start with a new city.
This was a time of much optimism in the newly independent nation of Central
America, of which Costa Rica was at that time a state (see: History of Central
America). The new capital of San José grew rapidly, extending into the
Central Valley. Because of its late 18th century origin, San José has
little of the Spanish colonial architecture common in most other Latin American
capitals. On August 9th, 1884, San Jose became the first city in Latin America
illuminated by electric energy.
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