Costa Rica
Charles J Shields
Hardcover
(Mason Crest Publishers, Aug. 15, 2015)
When Spanish explorers landed on the coast of Central America, they found Amerindian tribes wearing gold jewelry. As a result, the named the region Costa Rica, Spanish for rich coast. The Spaniards would find Costa Rica to be relatively poor in the resources they desired, particularly gold and silver. However, the country is rich in breathtaking natural beauty, including tall mountains and volcanoes, white beaches, plunging waterfalls, tropical islands, and cool green jungles that contain an amazing variety of biodiversity. Costa Rica is an isthmus, bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the southeast. It is home to more than 4.6 million people. Today, Costa Rica is considered one of the most stable, prosperous, and progressive nations in Latin America. There's a lot to discover about Costa Rica! Each title in this series contains color photos, maps, a chronology of events related to the country, recipes, list of festivals, ideas for projects and reports, and back matter including: an index, further reading lists for books and internet resources, and a series glossary. Mason Crests editorial team has placed Key Icons to Look for throughout the books in this series in an effort to encourage library readers to build knowledge, gain awareness, explore possibilities and expand their viewpoints through our content rich non-fiction books. Key Icons are as follows: Words to Understand are shown at the front of each chapter with definitions. These words are then used in the prose throughout that chapter, and are emboldened, so that the reader is able to reference back to the definitions- building their vocabulary and enhancing their reading comprehension. Sidebars are highlighted graphics with content rich material within that allows readers to build