The Osa Peninsula is a peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

 located in southwestern Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

, in the Puntarenas Province

Puntarenas Province

Puntarenas is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the western part of the country, covering most of Costa Rica's Pacific Ocean coast, and it is the largest province in Costa Rica. Clockwise from the northwest it borders on the provinces Guanacaste, Alajuela, San José and Limón, and the...

, on the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

, at 8.55°N 83.5°W. The peninsula was formed geologically by a fault

Geologic fault

In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement along the fractures as a result of earth movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust result from the action of tectonic forces...

ing system that extends north into California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

One of the most biologically intense places on earth, the Osa Peninsula is home to at least half of all species living in Costa Rica. The main town on the peninsula is Puerto Jimenez

Puerto Jimenez

Puerto Jiménez is the largest town on the Osa Peninsula, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica with a population of 1,780. Located on the Golfo Dulce near Corcovado National Park, it is served by the Puerto Jiménez Airport. It is most famous for its gold mining and logging in the 1960s.-External...

, which has its own airport and provides access to Corcovado National Park as well as the coastal villages of Cabo Matapalo

Cabo Matapalo (Costa Rica)

The village of Cabo Matapalo is at the outermost point of the Osa Peninsula, in the southern Pacific coast area of Costa Rica.Known for its remoteness, Matapalo is a hidden paradise amongst jungle and ocean. The Matapalo region has beautiful beaches, amazing surf points and lush natural scenery...

 and Carate.

The peninsula is the setting for the autobiographical book "Oro" by Cyzia Zÿke (1985).

See also

• Corcovado National Park
  Corcovado National Park
  Corcovado National Park is a National Park on the Osa Peninsula in the South West of Costa Rica , which is part of the Osa Conservation Area. It was established on 24 October 1975, and encompasses an area of 425 km² . It is widely considered the crown jewel in the extensive system of national...
  
  , located on the southern part of the peninsula, and part of the Osa Conservation Area
  Osa Conservation Area
  Osa Conservation Area is an administrative area which is managed by SINAC for the purposes of conservation in Costa Rica, on the southern Pacific coast region...
  
  
• Drake Bay, located on the north side of the peninsula
• Golfito
  Golfito
  This article is about a Costa Rica town. For the ship see TSS Golfito.The port town of Golfito is located in Puntarenas Province on the southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, near the border of Panama...