COSTA RICA

Costa Rica stamps, available worldwide at Io Collezionista. The country proclaimed its independence in 1821, as other Central American states did, following the signing of the act of independence of Mexico, the Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of North America. The modern discovery of Costa Rica is owed to Christopher Columbus and dates to 1502, although the exploration of the interior would begin only in the middle of the 16th century with Juan Vazquez de Coronado, the Spanish traveller and conqueror known for founding the city of Cartago in 1561, capital of Costa Rica until 1823. After the ruinous civil war of 1948 the state chose to abolish its army entirely in 1949, becoming the first country in the world without a military force.