COSTA RICA

COSTA RICA.

Economic development and social progress.
Irrigation canal in Guanacaste.
Airmail. Last stamp in a set of 10, issued on 05.05.1982.
Face value: 4.05 Costa Rican colones.
Printed by Casa Gráfica, San José.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 35 x 35 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 1159.
- Scott No. C871.
- StampWorld No. 1164.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1263.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA852.

Guanacaste (Nahuatl: Kwahnakastlan) is a province of Costa Rica located in the northwestern region of the country, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Nicaragua to the north. The province covers an area of 10,141 km² (3,915 sq mi) and as of 2022, had a population of 404,774. Guanacaste's capital is Liberia. In pre-Columbian times, most of the province's territory was part of the Kingdom of Nicoya (Nahuatl: Nekok Yaotl). Since 1787, a large part of the territory of the current province was a Spanish colonial political-administrative unit with the name of Partido de Nicoya; Through a plebiscite held on July 25, 1824, said territory decided to join the State of Costa Rica, and in 1835 it was renamed the Department of Guanacaste. In the 1980s, infrastructures began to be built, such as the canal represented on the stamp, to favor the development of agriculture. Currently, the economy of the province is based mainly on tourism and agricultural activities.