Abangares is a
canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ent ...
in the
Guanacaste province of
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
.
The head city is in
Las Juntas district.
History
Abangares was created on 4 June 1915 by decree 13.
Geography
Abangares has an area of km
2 and a mean elevation of metres.
The canton begins on the coastline of the
Gulf of Nicoya north of the mouth of the Abangares River. It widens between the Lajas River on the northwest and Lagartos River on the east as it reaches up into the
Cordillera de Tilarán.
Districts
The canton of Abangares is subdivided into the following
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 o ...
:
#
Las Juntas
#
Sierra
Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following:
Places Mountains and mountain ranges
* Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico
* Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...
#
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to:
Places Argentina
* San Juan Province, Argentina
* San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province
* San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province
* San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
#
Colorado
Demographics
For the
2011 census, Abangares had a population of inhabitants.
Transportation
Road transportation
The canton is covered by the following road routes:
Gold mines
The Abangares canton is home to the oldest
gold mining tradition in Costa Rica, dating back over a century.
The first major mining operation was
Abangares Mining Company The Abangares Mining Company was a gold mining company in the Tilarán mountains, located in the Abangares district of the province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica. Founded by U.S. railroad, fruit, and shipping magnate Minor C. Keith
Minor Cooper ...
, founded in the
Tilarán mountains by
U.S. railroad, fruit, and shipping magnate
Minor C. Keith.
One of the canton's major modern producers of gold, with silver as a by-product, has been the Tres Hermanos mine, which for many years was operated by El Valiente Ascari S.A., a subsidiary of Ariel Resources Ltd. of
Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada.
That company filed for insolvency in 2001 and abandoned the operation while still owing its workers two months worth of wages.
More than 300 families continue to earn a meager living working through an independent local collective that now operates the mine.
A mining museum at La Sierra de Abangares with artifacts from the boom times of Costa Rican gold mining is a major tourist attraction of the canton.
References
Cantons of Guanacaste Province
Populated places in Guanacaste Province
{{CostaRica-geo-stub