According to the Political Constitution of Costa Rica of 1949, in article 168, the territorial division of

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

is organized by law into three types of

subnational entity Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

: For the purposes of the Public Administration, the national territory is divided into provinces, these in cantons and cantons in districts. Costa Rica is divided into: * 7

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

* 84

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

* 492

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

The most recent decree to this subdivision corresponds to N°41548-MGP from 28 January 2019. All entities are numbered, the provinces get 1 digit, the cantons 3 digit with the first being the number of the province, the districts get 5 digits with the first 3 being the numbers of the canton. The district numbers are also used as

postal codes A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

History

With the establishment of the republic and the declaration of Costa Rica as "free, sovereign and independent republic," the Political Constitution of the Reformed Costa Rica of 1848 was approved on November 30 Of that year, and according to Law No. 36 of December 7 of 1848, the denominations of

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

. According to the aforementioned law, the following provinces were created: * San José, with one canton and ten parish districts. * Alajuela, with two cantons and eight parish districts. * Cartago, with two cantons and thirteen parish districts. * Heredia, with one canton and seven parish districts. * Guanacaste, with four cantons and eight parish districts. This law classified Puntarenas as ''

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

'', a category that is now in disuse. Legislative Decree No. 10 of September 17, 1858 gives Puntarenas the title of province. Decree No. 27 of June 6, 1870 created the "County of Limón" from the easternmost territory of the Province of Cartago, and allowed the establishment of a town hall. It would not be until 1902, under Legislative Decree No. 59 of August 1 that it was constituted in the seventh and last of the provinces that comprise the national territory. From 1848 to 1980 the number of cantons in the country has gone from 10 to 82. The last canton to be constituted is the Rio Cuarto ancient district of Greece province of Alajuela. The districts, on the other hand, have experienced greater flexibility in their constitution process, so their numbers are constantly changing. For example, there are now 470 districts, when in 2000, when the population census was conducted the districts were 463.

Provincial organization

Politically and administratively, Costa Rica is made up of 7 provinces: Costa Rica provinces named

Cantonal organization

The concept of

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

falls to the second-level sub-national entity (the cantons), governed by a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

elected every four years in general elections, as well as a Municipal Council ( Municipal regime of Costa Rica). According to the Political Constitution, article 169: "The administration of the local interests and services in each canton will be in charge of the Municipal Government, formed of a deliberative body, composed of municipal councilors of popular election, and of an executive officer who will designate the law."

District organization

Each canton is divided into districts whose number varies from canton to canton. Each district has a District Council chaired by a

syndic ''Syndic'' (; Greek: ) is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or p ...

, all popularly elected. The District Council is the interlocutor between the district and the municipal government and ensures the communal and neighborhood interests before the Municipal Council, although the direct administration of the district falls to the municipality, the District Councils also exercise administrative functions such as forwarding projects To the Council and supervise the work of the mayor. Each district in Costa Rica has a unique five digit administrate division code that is also used as an identifier by the

National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica (, or ''INEC'', in Spanish) is the governmental institution entrusted with the running of censuses and official surveys in the country. Its main office is in Mercedes district, in Mon ...

and corresponds to the

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

Other subdivisions

According to the Administrative Territorial Division () the following subdivisions are applicable at or below canton and district level: * (city): Title awarded to the major urban area in the district which is the seat of the canton municipality. There are three special exceptions, in which more than one district composes a city in a canton: ** San José city in its condition of Capital of the Republic, where each of the eleven districts of the San José canton are part of the city. ** Cartago: The city corresponds to the union of

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

and

Occidental Occidental may refer to: * Occident (of or pertaining to) * Western world (of or pertaining to) Places *Occidental, California, a town in Sonoma County, California, US * Occidental Park, Seattle, Washington, US Other uses * Interlingue, a const ...

districts. **

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which comprises the Puntarenas, Chacarita and El Roble districts. A ...

: The city is made up of the

, Chacarita,

El Roble EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

districts. * (Province capital): Is the city (as defined in this list) that has the condition of being located in the first canton of each of the provinces. * (

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

): Group of homes in a rural zone, where their residents work on agricultural duties on farms facilitates by the government to fulfill economic and social objectives. * (

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

): Group of homes generally located in a city, where their inhabitants share sociocultural activities and a sense of belonging with similar economic and social objectives. * (

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

): Disperse homes, usually in a rural setting, with some proximity and sharing a territory. A farm with at least eight homes are taken into account for this definition as long as their inhabitants recognize the name of the place. * (locality): Any place that holds one or more structures used as homes, that can be inhabited, may be occupied or not. The place name might be officially or colloquially assigned. * (

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

): A group of homes than can be disperse or lineally allocated, with buildings that cover basic services such as education, health, recreation and religious.

Indigenous Territories

In Costa Rica there are 24 indigenous territories duly delimited by the central government and have limited autonomy. These territories are administered by the Associations of Indigenous Development like a local government according to Decree No. 13568-G of the

Executive Power The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

References

External links

http://www.inec.go.cr/Encuestas/Manual de códigos geográficosDivisión Territorial Administrativa de la República de Costa Rica al 8 de marzo de 2017
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