The army is an important guarantee of a country's national defense, guaranteeing that the country is not subject to foreign aggression. But there are also some countries in the world that do not have military forces for part reasons, such as Japan in Asia, Iceland in Europe, Mauritius in Africa, and so on.
The note we're going to talk about in this issue comes from a country without an army, and it is the first country in the world to officially abolish the military, from Costa Rica in Central America.
Located in Central America, Costa Rica has an area of 51,100 square kilometers and a population of 5.11 million, and its per capita gross national product (GDP) will reach 12,294 US dollars in 2021, ranking second in Central America after Panama, which made its fortune by the canal.
The man on this 10,000 Kolang note issued by the Central Bank of Costa Rica is José Figueres Ferrer, the president of the country that abolished the Costa Rican army.
Map of Costa Rica on 10000 Colon
Figueres had many remarkable achievements in his lifetime, such as the abolition of the military in 1948, the encouragement of the nationalization of enterprises such as banking and insurance in 1949, and a visiting professor at Harvard University from 1963 to 1964.
Jose Figueres Ferrell (1906–1990)
José Figueres Ferrer was born in 1906 in San Ramón, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica. In his early years, he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. After completing his studies, Figueres returned to Costa Rica and turned to agriculture, working on coffee cultivation and the production of agave (a plant used to make ropes and bags).
In 1948, Costa Rica held presidential elections, and former President Calderon was defeated by the Urat of the National Union Party, but Calderon did not admit defeat on the grounds of fraud. Subsequently, the National Republican-controlled Legislative Assembly voted 27 to 18 in favor of Calderon's claims, declaring the election of Uralt-elected president-elect invalid, and large-scale protests occurred everywhere.
In March of the same year, the lord of the great estate, Figueres Ferrer, revolted in southern Costa Rica. In 1942, Figueres was arrested by the government of the time and exiled to Mexico for speaking out against Calderon on the radio.
During the presidential campaign, Figueres returned to his homeland to establish an armed force in his coffee plantation, and the subsequent armed uprising was quickly supported by conservative forces in the south, led by nobles and manor owners.
In the end, figueres's National Liberation Army defeated the government forces on the outskirts of the capital. After Figueres's victory in the civil war, he agreed with Urlat, who was supposed to be president, to form a transitional commission, which would be handed over to the president after 18 months in power.
In 1948, when Figueres was the leader of the Transitional Government, he suppressed the Calderonites while organizing the development of a new constitution, including the far-reaching "de-armyization" and the abolition of the army was officially put on the agenda.
Although decades have passed since the democratization of Costa Rica and nearly a hundred years have passed since the declaration of independence. However, regime changes and military coups in Costa Rica have been a constant stream. Although order can always be restored, social unrest has always been a stubborn obstacle to development for the country and the people.
In order to avoid a recurrence of military seizures of power, Costa Rica abolished the army on December 1, 1948, at the urging of Figueres. Figueres declared at the military barracks at the time (today the National Museum of Costa Rica) that "the national army was officially disbanded".
The background on the front of the 10,000 crown note is from the scene when he smashed the wall symbolizing the spirit of the army with a hammer in 1948 to show Costa Rica's determination to abolish the army. Since then, December 1 has been celebrated as the Day of the Abolition of the Costa Rican Army.
After becoming the first country in the world to abolish the military, Costa Rica's economy developed rapidly, and various characteristic local industries continued to develop. For example, in terms of tourism to establish national parks, the main pattern on the back of the 10,000 Kolang banknote symbolizes Costa Rica's wet rainforest ecosystem.
Catlan and sloths
Here in Manuel Antonio National Park you can see one of the world's slowest-moving animals, the three-toed sloth. These sloths act lazily, and usually can't move a few meters in a day on the tree.
There are also many exotic rare plants, such as the cup-like waxy orange-like cup fungus that grows on rotten wood or dead branches, which are only 3 to 4 cm tall and orange or orange in color.
Orange spiny cup fungus
Here you can also see one of the most famous orchids in the world, Costa Rica's national flower --- Cattelan, which often grows on the branches of forest trees or on wet and rainy coasts, and is known internationally as the "King of Ocean Orchids" and "Queen of Orchids".
Orchid stamps from Costa Rica
Costa Rica's national flower ---- Cattelan