Costa Rica is a rugged, rain forested Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and Pacific. Though its capital, San Jose, is home to cultural institutions like the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, Costa Rica is known for its beaches, volcanoes, and biodiversity! Roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, teeming with wildlife including spider monkeys and quetzal birds.

Costa Rica was sparsely inhabited by indigenous peoples before coming under Spanish rule in the 16th century. Did you know that after the Costa Rican Civil War, the country permanently abolished its army in 1949, becoming one of only a few sovereign nations without a standing army! Isn’t that interesting? It also has progressive environmental policies and is the only country to meet all the five criteria established by UNDP to measure environmental sustainability.

The colon is the currency of Costa Rica. It is named after Christopher Columbus, known as Cristobal Colon in Spanish. The colon was introduced in 1896, replacing the Costa Rican peso at par and is divided into 100 centimos.

The note depicted in the image besides is a 50 Colones banknote issued in the year 1974. The obverse has the portrait of Manuel María de Peralta y Alfaro, a Costa Rican diplomat and historian, to right and a class of men to left. The reverse features the Casa Amarilla - Yellow House - the seat of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Culture, San Jose.

Image Courtesy: Numismatica Cameroni