Quepos
| Quepos | |
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| District and town | |
| Quepos coastline as seen from Concepcion, in the Tarrazu highlands, Costa Rica
Quepos coastline as seen from Concepcion, in the Tarrazu highlands, Costa Rica
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 Quepos
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| Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Country | Costa Rica |
| Province | Puntarenas |
| Canton | Quepos |
| Area | |
| • Total | 222.89 km2 (86.06 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Population (2013) | |
| • Total | 21,938 |
| • Density | 98/km2 (250/sq mi) |
| Postal code | 60601 |
Quepos is a district and the capital of Aguirre canton in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica.[1]
The district has a population of about 22,000 people.[2]
The town is about 60 km. south (in a straight line) from Costa Rica's capital, San José, but is 157 km from that city by road if going through the localities of Atenas, Orotina and Tárcoles.[3]
Quepos is the gateway to Manuel Antonio National Park. The city is very tourism-oriented, having many bars and restaurants and a vivacious night-life.
The town is named for the native Quepo Indians who inhabited the place in the colonial era.
Quepos is well known thanks to being the gateway to a popular National Park and beaches in Costa Rica. Several years ago the country's park service imposed limits on the number of visitors to the park (600 per day, and it's closed on Mondays).
Contents
History
The area was home to the native Quepoa people of this specific Costa Rican region. In 1563, Spanish Catholic conquistadores, led by Juan Vázquez de Coronado, settled the area and founded the settlement of San Bernardino de Quepo. The local native Quepo people were then subsequently subjugated by Juan Vázquez and his conquistadores.
In 1746, the Quepo people that remained were transferred to a reservation which already contained another native ethnic group. Quepos offers fishing for numerous varieties of fish, especially Pacific Sailfish. Peak fishing season is from November to April for billfish.
Once the export banana industry became attractive in the 1920's, several small plantations were created along the coast to the east and west of the present town. Most were connected to navigable waterways by small railways of two foot gauge, called "tramways" or "tranvias" which were mule-powered. One plantation east of Manuel Antonio was owned by the Lutz family. Bunches of bananas were loaded onto barges and hauled to small steamers anchored offshore, which carried them to California. In the late 1940's the United Fruit Company arrived in the area, bought up large swathes of land in the coastal lowlands from Parrita to Silencio, and proceeded to clear the forest and plant bananas on a large scale, while continuing to buy from the existing smallholders. United Fruit built a heavy-duty industrial railway connecting all their plantations with the present town of Quepos, where a steel pier was built in deep water so that bananas could be loaded directly onto ocean-going vessels. A huge company town was created as the center of this banana operation, with a hospital, schools, churches, worker and administrator housing, and employee clubhouses. The steel pier still exists, and was last overhauled in 1982.
The banana plantation was wiped out by the "Panama" disease caused by the Fusarium oxysporium fungus by the early 1950's, and United Fruit replanted the devastated areas with Oil Palm and Cacao. The palm oil operation flourished, supplying vegetable oil to the "Numar" organization in San Jose, Costa Rica, which distributed cooking oil and margarine throughout Central America. Once the banana boats stopped calling, the port of Quepos declined, and the palm oil and cacao went by barge north along the coast to Puntarenas. Once an all-weather highway was opened from Orotina to Parrita in the late 1960's, palm oil was trucked to San Jose, and the railroad to the port was lifted. By agreement with the government, the track bed was converted to a road, which allowed tourists easy access to the area.
Villages
Administrative center of the district is the town of Quepos.
Other villages are Anita, Bartolo, Boca Naranjo, Cañas, Cañitas, Cerritos, Cerros, Damas, Delicias, Espadilla, Estero Damas, Estero Garita, Llamarón, Llorona, Managua, Manuel Antonio, Marítima, Mona, Papaturro, Paquita, Pastora, Quebrada Azul, Rey, Ríos and Roncador.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Estadísticas Vitales 2013 - INEC
- ↑ http://www.govisitcostarica.co.cr/region/city.asp?cid=247
External links
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