| Alajuela | ||
| Province | ||
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| Country | Costa Rica | |
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| Capital city | Alajuela (pop. 46,554) | |
| Largest city | San Ramón (pop. 155,861) | |
| Coordinates | ||
| Area | 9,757.53 km2 (3,767 sq mi) | |
| Population | 716,286 (2001) | |
| Density | 73 / km2 (189 / sq mi) | |
| ISO 3166-2 code | CR-A | |
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Alajuela is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the north-central part of the country, bordering Nicaragua to the north, and clockwise the provinces Heredia, San José, Puntarenas and Guanacaste. The province covers an area of 9,757.53 km²,[1] and has a population of 767,143.[2]
The capital is Alajuela, other important cities include Ciudad Quesada.
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During the pre-Columbian time, Alajuela was occupied by an indigenous group called 'Huetares' in the south and 'Votos', 'Guatusos', 'Tices' and 'Catapas' in the north. In 1574 the indigenous reservation of Santa Catalina was founded which today is the Canton of Mateo.
Following the establishment of the city of Cartago in the latter part of the 16th century, the incipient population began expanding westward. By the beginning of the 18th century, the population of Heredia had grown such that it became a second base of expansion, again to the west.
To the Catholic colonists one drawback to founding new settlements was the inherent difficulty in attending mass when living far from the established towns. For this reason, in 1782, a new parish that included several small settlements scattered to the west of Heredia was formed in a site known as La Lajuela. Over time this place name evolved into Alajuela, which was also known as Villa Hermosa, "beautiful village."
The settlement of the northern portion of this province only began in earnest in the later half of the 19th century, and even so did not reach great proportions until the second half of the 20th century owing largely to the difficult access. In fact, much of the original colonization (apart from that of the Botos tribes who had inhabited the region for centuries prior to the coming of the Spaniards) came not from Costa Rica, but from Nicaragua since numerous navigable rivers flow north from their origins in the cordilleras and empty into either Lake Nicaragua or the San Juan River. This natural geographic connection was used (and to some extent still is today) by people coming from Nicaragua in search of new land or for exploiting forest products (e.g., hunting, rubber tapping, and extracting ipecac root).
The province is located in the North Central Plains and borders Nicaragua.
In the last few decades, with an extensive network of all-weather roads constructed in this once isolated region, cattle and crop production have come to dominate the countryside and a thriving agricultural economy now exists which supplies much of the nation's corn, beans, and fruit and vegetable produce.
Alajuela is famous as the home of the Costa Rican national hero Juan Santamaría. Santamaría (nicknamed El Erizo (The Hedgehog) was a peasant boy who became the national hero during the Campaign of 1856-1857 when Costa Rica defeated the army of the North-American filibusterer William Walker.
Alajuela is the home of one of Costa Rica's two most successful football clubs, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense.
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