Costa Rican Culture: A Very Brief Summary

The term Hispanic refers to people who are capable of speaking and comprehending the Spanish language, and whose ancestry identifies with the Hispanic culture. The three main Hispanic groups in the United States are Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans are people who identify themselves as Hispanics of Puerto Rican origin, meaning they were either born in Puerto Rico, or have family ancestry that traces back to Puerto Rico. According to Lopez & Patten (2015), in 2013, Puerto Ricans were the second-largest Hispanic origin population living in the United States, accounting for 9.5%. This population continues to grow. In fact, between 1980 and 2013, the Puerto Rican population in the United States had increased by 56% (Lopez & Patten, 2015). Puerto Rican culture is unique, and quite complex. To gain knowledge and a better understanding of the Puerto Rican culture, I attended the Puerto Rican Festival held in Milwaukee, and conducted an interview with Melinda Nieves, a Puerto Rican woman living in Appleton. Through these experiences, I found that Puerto Rican culture is centered around language, family, and religion, as well as music and delicious food.

Puerto Rican culture is very unique and diverse and is mainly influenced by its past. It is a melting pot of Taino Indian, Spanish, African, and American cultures, which is what makes Puerto Rico unique. Puerto Rican music, clothing, food, traditions, holidays, languages, and religions are all influenced from the diversity of the population. The official languages are Spanish and English because of the long period of time when Spain ruled and then later, when it became U.S. territory. The majority of the population of Puerto Rico is also Roman Catholic or Protestant again, because it was ruled by the Spanish Crown for over an extended period of time.

In Latin American countries, they have a very unique culture. With their holidays, music, celebrations, and art, the countries in Latin America never cease to bring joy in people’s lives. Latin American culture is vastly different than other cultures in many ways. In Latin America, the languages of Spanish and Portuguese are dominant and most people speak them. However there are people who speak other languages as well. Latin America includes nineteen countries and several territories. There are a variety of different ethnicities in Latin America including Mexicans, Europeans, and Asians. Education inside the Latin American culture still struggles. Only a little more than half of kids ages 13-17 advance into secondary school. Because of this, the crime and violence rates in Latin America are at an all time high. These countries have been rated as one of the most dangerous regions in the world because of how high the rates of crime and violence are.

Haiti, the small country located west of the Dominican Republic, is a unique and beautiful country with its own unique culture and geography. The people of Haiti are proud of their country and their culture. Even though the nation is plagued by earthquakes and storms, due to its geographic location, it does not stop the Haitian people from continuing their unique culture and happy lifestyle. Taking a look at this country’s culture and geography, anyone, civilian, military or political personnel can fully grasp and understand the country’s uniqueness.

Costa Rica is a very beautiful and unique place. It was my first time going there and I loved it! It was much different than the United States in ways I didn’t mind or even enjoyed. We saw many things and went many places while we were down there. I am ready to go back again already and do new, exciting things. However, we did a lot while we were down there.

Human habitation can be traced back more than 10,000 years but it appears Costa Rica was sparsely populated and a relative backwater in the pre-Columbian era. There is little sign of major communities and none of the impressive stone architecture that characterized the more advanced civilizations of Mesoamerica to the north and the Andes to the south. When Columbus arrived near Lim¢¢n on September 18, 1502 on his third and last voyage to the Americas, there were probably no more than 20,000 indigenous inhabitants They lived in several autonomous tribes, all with distinct cultures and customs. Costa Rica 's only major archaeological site is at Guayabo, 30 miles east of San Jos‚‚, where an ancient city, dating back to 1000 B.C. and though to

Puerto Rican culture, like most cultures today, can be difficult to fit into a perfect descriptive box due to a rich heritage and history full of cultural and racial mixing that make up Its people. Taino Indians, Spanish settlers, African slaves, various immigrants, and eventually Americans, after they acquired the Island of Puerto Rico in 1898, have all influenced the culture of Puerto Rico. It was not until 1917, that Puerto Ricans received common United States citizenship. Puerto Ricans are as American as you or me, but the descendants of Puerto Rico will always consider themselves Puerto Rican and take great pride in their land and their culture. Today it is estimated that there are more than 8.6M Puerto Rican Americans and only approximately

Costa Rica, a country of Central America, covers an area of 19,730 square miles. The capital is San José. Extending from northwest to southeast, Costa Rica is bounded on the north by Nicaragua, along its 185-mile northeastern coastline by the Caribbean Sea, on the southeast by Panama, and along its 630-mile southwestern coastline by the Pacific Ocean.

Many of the modern Cuban music comes from Europe and Africa. There are very few native traditions as it is Cuban music now consist of a mixture of African and European music. The paths with African music crossed when the Africans would work on large plantations and the Spanish would be on small farms. The Africans made many percussion instruments and rhythms that fit the new instruments well. The Spanish saw the innovation of the Africans and made the guitar as their contribution to the musical style of hard laborers. The Europeans gave the Spanish the idea to combine music styles and express it in a visual form, more commonly known as notes.

When one thinks of Cuba, often a negative imagine comes to mind. This is no surprise, as most accounts of Cuba that we hear are horrible atrocities of the government of Cuba. As with most things in life, there is more than meets the eye with Cuba. At surface value, yes Cuba seems bad, but that is just because of the way the Cuban government and countless political struggles that the country has faced are portrayed. The Cuban people are actually a very proud people with a strong culture. if you looked past the communist nature of the country, Cuba is a vibrant and colorful place with a lot to learn about and a diverse culture to experience.

     Known for it’s natural beauty and gracious people is a small country located in Central America. Located between the countries of Nicaragua and Panama, bordered by both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea is a true gem, the Republic of Costa Rica. Located ten degrees north of the equator Costa Rica is in the tropics and even though it is a small country it has a very diverse landscape and a variety of weather as well.

In my last essay the place I chose was Costa Rica located in Central America. Costa Rica is known for its wonderful landscape, fiery culture and trades with other countries. Although a little difficult but not impossible but I researched about how American music globalized into Costa Rica. The era I wanted to discuss was the 90s which ranged from 1990 through 1999. The 90s era in America is well known for its bubble gum pop teen music such as Britney Spears, boy band N*Sync, powerful Christina Aguilera. Additionally R&B soul music was another aspect of this era with soulful groups such as Destiny Childs, LSG, and 112. On the rise along with R&B was Hip-Hop. It also was the era of the grunge metal that was on the rise. However, in Costa Rica is known for different types of music but mainly marimba, calypso, Costa Rican folk music and rock music. The last one mostly amongst the urban youth who are interested in American music Rock music known for usage of guitars, drums and

Natural hazards strike several parts of the world, some areas tend to get more hit than others because of their location. For this project, I have chosen to focus in the Republic of Costa Rica. The republic of Costa Rica is mostly known as Costa Rica. Costa Rica means “rich coast”. Such country is slightly smaller than Lake Michigan and even though It only takes up .03% of planet’s surface it holds 5% of its biodiversity. Costa Rica is located in Central America, bordered by Panama to the southeast, Nicaragua to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

I’ve always wanted to go to Costa Rica or Puerto Rico, but for this trip I decided to go to Costa Rica. After graduating high school, I made it a goal to save a lot of money just to go to Costa Rica. Also, I’ve always thought that Costa Rica was a beautiful country, and I love the Spanish cultures. I knew that my cousin Josh Mooney wanted to go on a vacation to a new country, so I brought him along. Saving enough money up and planning this trip was a lot of hard work, but eventually it all paid off.

Peter Alfandary: The myth of globalization, in his video, Peter presents a case as to why there is a need to learn about other cultures. He notes that there is a tendency for people to assume because they share a common language or live in the same part of the world that they understand each other’s cultures. However, he illustrates how misplaced this belief is by proving that people may live