Cocos Island (Spanish: Isla del Coco) is an island located off the shore of Costa Rica. It constitutes one of 13 districts of Puntarenas Canton of Puntarenas Province . It should not be confused with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. It is one of the National Parks of Costa Rica. Tourists are allowed ashore only with permission of island rangers, and are not permitted to camp or sleep on the island. It is located in the Pacific Ocean, 550 km (330 mi.) from the Pacific shore of Costa Rica, at . Its area is about 23 km² (15 mi²), about 8x3 km (5x1.8 mi), more or less in a rectangular shape. Wafer Station (Estación Wafer) is located at Wafer Bay (Bahía Wafer) on the north coast. Cerro Iglesias, the summit, is 671 m high and rises in the southwestern part of the island. Its perimeter is about 21 km (12½ mi). Cocos Island and its surrounding rocks are the only emergent islands of the Cocos Plate, one of the minor tectonic plates. Surrounded by deep waters with counter-currents, it is admired by scuba divers for its populations of Hammerhead sharks, rays and dolphins. Cocos Island is located on almost the exact opposite side of the globe as the Cocos (Keeling) Islands south of Sumatra.
History
Discovery of the island and early cartography
J. Lines (Diario de Costa Rica, May 12, 1940) cites Fernández de Oviedo who claims that the first discoverer of the island was Johan Cabeças. Other sources claim that Joan Cabezas de Grado was not a Portuguese sailor but an Asturian. D. Lievre, Una isla desierta en el Pacífico; la isla del Coco in Los viajes de Cockburn y Lievre por Costa Rica (1962: 134) tells that the first document with the name "Isle de Coques" is a map painted on pergamen, called that of Enrique II that appeared in 1542 during the reign of Francisco I. The planisphere of Nicolás Desliens (1556, Dieppe) places this Ysle de Coques about one and half degrees north of the Equator. (See also Mario A. Boza and Rolando Mendoza, Los parques nacionales de Costa Rica, Madrid, 1981.) Blaeu's Grand Atlas, originally published in 1662, has a colour world map on the back of its front cover which shows I. de Cocos right on the Equator. Frederik De Witt's Atlas, 1680 shows it similarly. The Hondius Broadside map of 1590 shows I. de Cocos at the latitude of 2 degrees and 30 minutes northern latitude, while in 1596 Theodore de Bry shows the Galapagos Islands near six degrees north of the Equator. E. Bowen, A Complete system of Geography, Volume II (London, 1747: 586) tells that the Galapagos stretch 5 degrees north of the Equator. Robinson Crusoe is not more inaccurate than most of these sources.
Robinson's neighbouring Terra Firma is shown on the colour map of Joannes Janson (Amsterdam) depicting the northeastern corner of South America, entitled Terra Firma et Novum Regnum Granatense et Popayan. It belongs to the early group of plates printed by William Blaeu from 1630 onwards. The properly called Terra Firma was the Isthmus of Darien (Bowen, 1747: 593, and Charles Theodore Middleton, A new and Complete System of Geography, Volume II (London, printed for J. Cooke, 1777-1778, page 448). Crusoe's two references to Mexico are against a South American island as well.
The Michael Crichton novel Jurassic Park centers on the fictitious Isla Nublar that is off of the west coast of Costa Rica. Isla del Cocos may be the inspiration for this island. Supporting this argument is the Dreamworks Interactive game "" (1998) which used Cocos Island's topography as a substitute for the fictional island on which it takes place.
World Heritage Site
"Cocos Island National Park" was added to Unesco's World Heritage List in 1997.
2006 Electoral Process
On February 5, 2006, during the electoral process of Costa Rica, for the first time ever 33 persons living there were allowed to vote. However, the only persons allowed to live on the island are Costa Rican Park Rangers who have established two encampments, including at English Bay.
See also
External links
