The nation's capital is San José. Costa Rica, republic in southern Central America, bordered on the north by Nicaragua, on the east by the Caribbean Sea, on the south-east by Panama, and on the south-west and west by the Pacific Ocean. The uncolonised and densely wooded tropical Cocos Island, about 480 km to the south-west in the Pacific Ocean, is under Costa Rican sovereignty. The total area of Costa Rica is 51,110 sq km.