According to the

Political Constitution A political constitution is a constitution where the legislature is the main check upon executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (C ...

of Costa Rica of 1949, in article 168, the territorial division 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 ...

is organized by law into three types of

subnational entity Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

: For the purposes of the Public Administration, the national territory is divided into provinces, these in cantons and cantons in districts. Costa Rica is divided into: * 7

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

* 82

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, t ...

* 488 districts The most recent decree to this subdivision corresponds to N°41548-MGP from 28 January 2019. All entities are numbered, the provinces get 1 digit, the cantons 3 digit with the first being the number of the province, the districts get 5 digits with the first 3 being the numbers of the canton. The district numbers are also used as

postal codes A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

History

With the establishment of the republic and the declaration of Costa Rica as "free, sovereign and independent republic," the Political Constitution of the Reformed Costa Rica of 1848 was approved on November 30 Of that year, and according to Law No. 36 of December 7 of 1848, the denominations of

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

, canton &

district 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 ...

. According to the aforementioned law, the following provinces were created: * San José, with one canton and ten parish districts. * Alajuela, with two cantons and eight parish districts. * Cartago, with two cantons and thirteen parish districts. * Heredia, with one canton and seven parish districts. * Guanacaste, with four cantons and eight parish districts. This law classified Puntarenas as ''

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

'', a category that is now in disuse. Legislative Decree No. 10 of September 17, 1858 gives Puntarenas the title of province. Decree No. 27 of June 6, 1870 created the "County of Limón" from the easternmost territory of the Province of Carthage, and allowed the establishment of a town hall. It would not be until 1902, under Legislative Decree No. 59 of August 1 that it was constituted in the seventh and last of the provinces that comprise the national territory. From 1848 to 1980 the number of cantons in the country has gone from 10 to 82. The last canton to be constituted is the Rio Cuarto ancient district of Greece province of Alajuela. The districts, on the other hand, have experienced greater flexibility in their constitution process, so their numbers are constantly changing. For example, there are now 470 districts, when in 2000, when the population census was conducted the districts were 463.

Provincial organization

Politically and administratively, Costa Rica is made up of 7 provinces: Costa Rica provinces named

Cantonal organization

The concept of City Hall or

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

falls to the second-level sub-national entity (the cantons), governed by a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

elected every four years in general elections, as well as a Municipal Council ( Municipal regime of Costa Rica). According to the Political Constitution, article 169: "The administration of the local interests and services in each canton will be in charge of the Municipal Government, formed of a deliberative body, composed of municipal councilors of popular election, and of an executive officer who will designate the law."

District organization

Each canton is divided into districts whose number varies from canton to canton. Each district has a District Council chaired by a syndic, all popularly elected. The District Council is the interlocutor between the district and the municipal government and ensures the communal and neighborhood interests before the Municipal Council, although the direct administration of the district falls to the municipality, the District Councils also exercise administrative functions such as forwarding projects To the Council and supervise the work of the mayor. Each district in Costa Rica has a unique five digit administrate division code that is also used as an identifier by the

National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica (''Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de Costa Rica'', or ''INEC'', in Spanish) is the governmental institution entrusted with the running of censuses and official surveys in t ...

and corresponds to the

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

Other subdivisions

According to the Administrative Territorial Division ( es, División Territorial Administrativa) the following subdivisions are applicable at or below canton and district level: * (city): Title awarded to the major urban area in the district which is the seat of the canton municipality. There are three special exceptions, in which more than one district composes a city in a canton: ** San José city in its condition of Capital of the Republic, where each of the eleven districts of the San José canton are part of the city. ** Cartago: The city corresponds to the union of

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

and Occidental districts. **

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas canton of Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which is made from the Puntarenas, Chacarita and ...

: The city is made up of the

, Chacarita, El Roble districts. * (Province capital): Is the city (as defined in this list) that has the condition of being located in the first canton of each of the provinces. * (

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

): Group of homes in a rural zone, where their residents work on agricultural duties on farms facilitates by the government to fulfill economic and social objectives. * ( neighborhood): Group of homes generally located in a city, where their inhabitants share sociocultural activities and a sense of belonging with similar economic and social objectives. * (

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

): Disperse homes, usually in a rural setting, with some proximity and sharing a territory. A farm with at least eight homes are taken into account for this definition as long as their inhabitants recognize the name of the place. * (locality): Any place that holds one or more structures used as homes, that can be inhabited, may be occupied or not. The place name might be officially or colloquially assigned. * (

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

): A group of homes than can be disperse or lineally allocated, with buildings that cover basic services such as education, health, recreation and religious.

Indigenous Territories

In Costa Rica there are 24 indigenous territories duly delimited by the central government and have limited autonomy. These territories are administered by the Associations of Indigenous Development like a local government according to Decree No. 13568-G of the

Executive Power The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems b ...

References

External links

http://www.inec.go.cr/Encuestas/Manual de códigos geográficosDivisión Territorial Administrativa de la República de Costa Rica al 8 de marzo de 2017
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