Limon

Puerto Limón is Spanish for port lemon. The city is homonymous to both the canton and province. Along with Guanacaste, Limón is one of the locations in the country that owes its name to a plant. A previous name for the location was Cariay or Cariai, a name used by the aboriginal tribes from pre-Hispanic era up to the arrival of Christopher Columbus. The origins of the name Limón are unknown, but by 1852, then-Costa Rican president Juan Rafael Mora Porras referred to the port as Puerto del Limón (Port of the Lemon).

Christopher Columbus first dropped anchor in Costa Rica in 1502 at Isla Uvita, just off the coast of Puerto Limón. The Atlantic coast, however, was left largely unexplored by Spanish settlers until the 19th century. As early as 1569, Governor Perafán de Rivera gave extensive plots of land, Indians included, in Matina to aristocrats (hidalgos) that helped to finance and support early conquest. Because these aristocrats found out that only a few Indians were available to exploit, they acquired African slaves to plant these lands with cocoa trees (the only feasible crop in these lands). These lands provided the only source of income to the absentee owners from the capital city of Cartago. Matina gained importance because of the cacao and the presence of African slaves, which made them attractive to pirate incursions. …

Limón is situated on a cape along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, on the East side of the country. South of the National Route 32, two rivers converge into their drainage into the Caribbean Sea: the Limoncito and the Cieneguita rivers, both of which are surrounded by numerous neighborhoods. Two islands surround the city. The Uvita Island is less than a kilometer East of downtown Limón, while the smaller Isla de Pájaros (Birds Island) lies just north of the nearby Bonita Beach. The district has an area of 59.51 square kilometres (22.98 square miles) and an elevation of three metres (9.8 feet) Limón is divided into neighborhoods (barrios) and villages (poblados or villas). The barrios are as follows: The poblados are as follows: Limón features a trade wind tropical rainforest climate (Af) under Köppen's climate classification. …