San José, city, Costa Rica

San José (sän hōsā`), city (1989 pop. 287,535), central Costa Rica, capital and largest city of Costa Rica. San José is the economic, political, and social center of Costa Rica, dominating the Central Valley and the nearby towns, Alajuela Alajuela (älähwā`lä), city (1995 est. pop. 48,645), capital of Alajuela prov., central Costa Rica.
..... Click the link for more information. , Cartago Cartago (kärtä`gō), city (1995 est. pop. 31,413), central Costa Rica, capital of Cartago prov.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Heredia Heredia, city (1995 est. pop. 29,200), capital of Heredia prov., central Costa Rica. On the central plateau, it is a center of the coffee and cattle industries and, with its colonial architecture, a tourist attraction.
..... Click the link for more information. . During colonial times, the main industry of the region was tobacco raising; by the mid-19th cent., the city had become the center of a coffee-producing area. It is the national distribution point for imports. San José was founded (c.1738) at the beginning of the westward expansion from Cartago; with independence from Spain (1821), it became the center of the country's liberal element and, in 1823, the capital. A modern city, with parks and fine public buildings, including the elaborate National Theater, it has a mixture of Spanish and North American architecture, with many houses set back to have lawns and gardens fronting the street. San José is a stop for international airlines, the hub of the highway system, and the center of the Pacific and Caribbean railroads. It has several universities.

San José, town, Guatemala

San José, town (1994 est. pop. 14,170), SW Guatemala, on the Pacific Ocean. It is a rail terminus and a major Pacific port of Guatemala.

San José, city, Uruguay

San José (sän hōsā`) or San José de Mayo (thā, mä`yō), city (1996 pop. 33,351), capital of San José dept., S Uruguay, on the San José River. It is a commercial center for a large dairy and livestock region. The city was founded in 1783 by settlers from Spain, and was Uruguay's provisional capital in 1825–26. San José is noted for its architecture. Landmarks include a monument to Uruguayan patriots.

San José

City (pop., 2000: 309,672), capital of Costa Rica. Founded c. 1736 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.