City (pop., 2000: 309,672), capital of Costa Rica.
Founded in 0441; 1738 as Villa Nueva, in a broad, fertile valley about 3,800 ft (1,160 m) above sea level, it developed slowly as a tobacco centre in the Spanish colonial era. In 1823 it became the capital and in the 1840s the centre of coffee production, which remained the chief source of the country's income through the 19th century. The political, social, and economic centre of Costa Rica, it grew rapidly throughout the 20th century in both population and area.