Pérez Zeledón is the nineteenth

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

of the province of San José in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, located in the

Brunca Region The Brunca Region is one of six socioeconomic regions in Costa Rica. "Provinces of Costa Rica ".
''Statoids ...

. It ranks as the sixth-most populous canton in the country and is the 7th largest by area. The capital city of the canton is

San Isidro de El General San Isidro de El General () is the first district of the canton of Pérez Zeledón, in the southern part of the province of San José in Costa Rica, as well as the name of said district's main city. San Isidro de El General is the most populous ...

. The Río Savegre establishes the canton's boundaries on the northwest, the Río Guabo and a series of coastal mountain ranges on the southwest and south, and the peaks of the highest mountains of the

Cordillera de Talamanca The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies in the southeast half of Costa Rica and the far west of Panama. Much of the range and the area around it is included in La Amistad International Park, which also is shared between the two ...

(Talamanca Mountain Range) on the east. In the middle of the canton, the Río General, from which the canton's capital city takes its name, runs north to south.

History

Pérez Zeledón was created on 9 October 1931 by decree 31. Originally with four initial districts: Ureña, El General, Daniel Flores, and Rivas, with Ureña being the capital.

Early Costa Rican Settlements

Near the end of the 19th century, between 1870 and 1899, quite a few families lived in

El General valley EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

. The

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

s ''(

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: Caseríos)'' of El General, Palmares, Rivas, and Ureña were further populated from 1900 onward. The ''Caserío'' area of Ureña grew significantly. By 1911, during

Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno Romualdo Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno (6 February 1859 – 4 January 1945) was a Costa Rican lawyer and statesman who served as President of Costa Rica on three separate occasions: 1910–1914, 1924–1928, and 1932–1936. A prominent figure in ...

's administration, the Refuges of Ojo de Agua, El Cerro de la Muerte, and División were established. These refuges would further advance the growth of the region known today as Pérez Zeledón and El General Valley.

Costa Rican Civil War

, Pérez Zeledón's capital, was awarded the recognition of ''Ciudad Mártir'', regarding the civil war of 1948, as established by Decree Nº274. This decree established official legal recognition of the city's participation in the civil war of 1948. A section of the decree states (in

): :''la Junta Fundadora de la Segunda República, apreciando el noble esfuerzo y la valiosa contribución de San Isidro de El General, se siente obligada a hacer un público y oficial reconocimiento de tan loable conducta para que de ninguna manera quede ella relegada al olvido, sino que constantemente sea exaltada como merecen los grandes hechos dignos de vida eterna en los fastos nacionales.'' In English, this would loosely translate into: :'' The Founding Junta of the Second Republic, appreciating the noble effort and valuable contribution of San Isidro de El General, feels compelled to make a public and official recognition of such praiseworthy conduct that by no means be it relegated to oblivion, but rather constantly be exalted as great deeds merit worth of eternal life in the national splendor.'' Pérez Zeledón was also the location of significant battles during the

Costa Rican Civil War The Costa Rican Civil War took place from 12 March to 24 April 1948. The conflict followed the presidential elections of 8 February 1948, in which opposition candidate Otilio Ulate defeated the ruling party's Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia. ...

. The most notable battle was the Battle of San Isidro de El General. This battle was carried out at around 6:30 a.m. when 200 government forces engaged the revolutionaries at the city's central plaza. The fight was won by

José Figueres Ferrer José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer (25 September 1906 – 8 June 1990) served three terms as President of Costa Rica: 1948–1949, 1953–1958 and 1970–1974. During his first term in office he abolished the country's army, nationalized ...

and his revolutionary forces, which secured the southern Pacific region of Costa Rica in rebel hands.

Geography

Pérez Zeledón has an area of and a mean elevation of .

Government

Mayor

Under the Municipal Code of 1998, which regulates

local government in Costa Rica Costa Rica’s municipal system is organized under the Municipal Code, the specific law that regulates the local governments. Municipalities are the Administrative divisions of Costa Rica, second-level administration in Costa Rica after the central ...

, mayors and vice mayors are democratically elected every four years on a joint ticket by the canton’s residents. As of the latest municipal elections in 2024, the

Social Christian Unity Party The Social Christian Unity Party () is a centre-right political party in Costa Rica. PUSC considers itself a Christian-democratic party and, as such, is a member of the Christian Democrat Organization of America (ODCA). It was founded in 1983 by ...

candidate, Emmanuel Ceciliano Alfaro, was elected mayor of the canton with 28.99% of the votes, with Rosibel Ramos Madrigal and Mario Esteban Saenz Mena as first and second vice mayors, respectively.

Municipal Council

Like the mayor and vice mayors, all members of the Municipal Council (known as ''regidores'') are elected every four years through a

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

system, though on a separate ballot from the canton’s executive officials. The Pérez Zeledón Municipal Council consists of nine seats, held by

regidores A regidor (plural: ''regidores'') is a member of a council of municipalities in Spain and Latin America. Portugal also used to have the same office of ''regedor''. Mexico In Mexico, an ayuntamiento (municipal council) is composed of a municipal ...

and their substitutes. Substitutes can participate in meetings but do not have voting rights unless the primary regidor (''regidor propietario'') is absent. The current president of the Municipal Council is the Broad Front member, Andrea Herrera Chaves, with the National Liberation Party regidor, Edgar Mena Rodríguez, as vice president. The Municipal Council's composition for the 2024–2028 period is as follows:

Districts

The canton of Pérez Zeledón 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 ...

: #

El General Edgardo Armando Franco (born 27 September 1969), better known as El General, is a Panamanian former reggae artist considered by some to be one of the fathers of ''reggae en Español.'' During the early 1990s, he was one of the artists who initi ...

# Daniel Flores # Rivas # San Pedro # Platanares # Pejibaye #

Cajón A cajón ( ; "box, crate, drawer") is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front or rear faces (generally thin plywood) with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements such as brushes, mallets, or st ...

# Barú #

Río Nuevo Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

Páramo Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

La Amistad ''La Amistad'' (; Spanish for ''The Friendship'') was a 19th-century two-masted schooner owned by a Spaniard living in Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 for a slave revolt by Mende captives who had been captured and sold to European slav ...

Demographics

Pérez Zeledón had an estimated population of people in 2022, up from the inhabitants it had at the time of the 2011 census. According to a publication by the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

, Pérez Zeledón had a

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

of 0.746.

Economy

The canton of Pérez Zeledón's economic development has been characterized mainly through agriculture, livestock, trade, industry, and tourism. One factor that has driven this economic development is the canton's unique geographic positioning, which makes it a sort of 'bridge' between

's capital ( San José) and the southern areas of the country, especially those that border

Panamá Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. Important agricultural activities: *

Sugar Cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

cultivation *

Coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

* Tiquizque cultivation *

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

cultivation *

Blackberry BlackBerry is a discontinued brand of handheld devices and related mobile services, originally developed and maintained by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM, later known as BlackBerry Limited) until 2016. The first BlackBerry device ...

cultivation The first two products are the most important in the region. Livestock activities are also economically relevant, with pigs and cattle being the most important. The latter is used for fattening and dairy. Commercial activities have boomed in recent decades, mainly due to the establishment of

credit unions A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts ( cheque accounts), credit ...

, banks, local companies, media, and various other companies of the Central Valley (San José) setting up operations in the canton.

Tourism

The area's main attraction is its ecological diversity. Tourist sites in the area include the

Chirripó National Park Chirripó National Park is a national park of Costa Rica, encompassing parts of three provinces: San José, Limón and Cartago. It was established in 1975. It is part of the Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves/La Amistad National Park UNESCO W ...

, one of the highest peaks in Central America and the Caribbean, at 3,820 meters above sea level. Among other attractions are the journeys along the rapids. Another prominent park in the area is the Parque Internacional La Amistad, literally 'The Friendship International Park'.

Education

The first

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in Pérez Zeledón was established during

Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra (10 May 1844 – 15 April 1923) was a Nicaraguan-born President of Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean ...

's government (1902–1906). It was called Escuela Mixta de Ureña. It was in the Ureña district, south of

's central park. After the

, the school was moved to a new building 100 meters past San Isidro de El General's main entrance. It currently serves under the name ''"Escuela 12 de Marzo"'', in honor of the start of the Costa Rican Civil War (which had just ended when the school was re-inaugurated at its current location).

Transportation

Road transportation

The following road routes cover the canton:

Notable people

Keylor Navas Keilor Antonio "Keylor" Navas Gamboa (; born 15 December 1986) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Argentine Primera División club Newell's Old Boys and the Costa Rica national team. He is regarded as one o ...

, football

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Zeledon Canton Cantons of San José Province Populated places in San José Province