The Republic of Costa Rica, which is the third smallest Central American nation, after Belize and El Salvador. It has a total land area of 19,600 square miles, making it roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined, or about two- thirds the size of Scotland.  Costa Rica measures 288 miles at its greatest length, from northwest to southwest, and 170 miles at it's widest point, in the north.  The width narrows to only 74 miles in the southern portion of the nation.