1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Puntarenas

PUNTARENAS, or Punta Arenas, a seaport and capital of the district (comarca) of Puntarenas, Costa Rica; on the Gulf of Nicoya, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and at the western terminus of the interoceanic railway from Limón. Pop. (1904), 3569. Puntarenas is the principal harbour of Costa Rica on the Pacific, and a port of call for the United States liners which ply between San Francisco and Panama. It has an iron pier and ample warehouse accommodation for its large and growing export trade in coffee and bananas. The district of Puntarenas comprises the entire littoral from Burica Point to the Rio de las Lajas, an affluent of the Gulf of Nicoya.