San José (redirected from San José (disambiguation))

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, Cartago, and Heredia. 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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San José 

the capital of Costa Rica and the country’s industrial and cultural center; situated at an elevation of 1,165 m, on the Pan American Highway. Population, 400,000 (1974, including suburbs).

San José has a subequatorial climate. The average temperature in January is 18.5°C, and in July, 20.8°C. Annual precipitation is 1,850 mm; the rainy season extends from May through November. There are frequent earthquakes; the volcanoes of Poás, Irazú, and Turrialba are north of the city. San José is linked by rail to the port of Puntarenas on the Pacific and the port of Limón on the Caribbean. El Coco Airport is located 24 km from the city.

San José has food-processing, tobacco, textile, and metal-working industries. It is the center of a coffee-growing region. The city is the home of the University of Costa Rica, the National Library, the National Museum, the Gallery of the Faculty of Fine Arts, the National Theater (plays, operas, ballets), and the Harlequin Theater.

San José was founded in 1737–38 by Spanish conquistadores. In the mid-18th century, as tobacco plantations sprang up in the area, the city emerged as a center of tobacco production. San José became the capital of the republic of Costa Rica in 1823, after an eruption of Irazú almost completely destroyed Cartago, the original capital.

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San José 

a city in southern Guatemala, in the department of Escuintla. Population, 10,100 (1973). San José is linked by railroad with Guatemala City. Its port, on the Pacific Ocean, handled approximately 600,000 tons of cargo in 1970. Coffee, sugar, hides, and fine woods are exported.