In 1848, Costa Rica reorganized its administrative division, creating the Department of Guanacaste with the territories of Nicoya, Santa Cruz and Guanacaste, to which were added the cantons of Bagaces and Cañas, which did not belong to the old party. After a brief period in which the province took the name of Moracia (in honor of President Juan Rafael Mora Porras), in 1860 it was definitively changed to the province of Guanacaste. Guanacaste is the 5th province of Costa Rica, located in the extreme northwest of the country. It limits to the north with the Republic of Nicaragua, to the east with the Province of Alajuela, to the south with the Province of Puntarenas and to the west with the Pacific Ocean. It has an area of ​​10,140 km². It is the second largest province in the country, but also the most depopulated, where 404,774 people live.3 It is divided into 11 cantons and 61 districts. Its head is Liberia, located 210 kilometers from San José. Other important cities are Nicoya, Santa Cruz, Cañas. The territory of Guanacaste includes most of the old Nicoya District, which together with Lepanto, Paquera, Cóbano, Isla Chira, and other islands in the Gulf of Nicoya, was annexed to the country on July 25, 1824. Its relief combines the volcanic peaks of the Guanacaste mountain range with wide plains that open towards the Pacific. The main geographical features are the Santa Elena peninsula to the northwest, the Nicoya peninsula to the southeast, which is the largest in the country and encompasses the Gulf of Nicoya.