The Coat of Arms of Costa Rica depicts an essential simplification of the nation. Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica,) is a Country in The two ships on either side represent the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, both of which border Costa Rica. For the region see Caribbean. The Caribbean Sea (kəˈrɪbiən or /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ is a tropical Sea in the Western Hemisphere The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The ships also represent the maritime history of the country. The three mountains represent the three major mountain ranges of Costa Rica, and also stand to show the location of the country relative to the two bodies of sea. The current coat of arms has seven stars on it to represent the seven provinces of Costa Rica. On the sides, small golden beads can be seen; these were put here in representation of the Costa Rican coffee, which for a long time was the largest line of production and exportation in the country. They are golden because in Costa Rica, coffee is sometimes referred to as "El Grano de Oro" or "The Bead of Gold". A bead is a small decorative object that is pierced for threading or stringing The above arms are older, and have five stars that represent the nations that had made up the United States of Central America in the early 19th century; the Costa Rican design is modified after the old Central American Federal coat of arms. The Federal Republic of Central America, also known as the United Central Provinces of America, was a short-lived American State in Central America The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The name of the nation is on a white banner at the top of the shield, above this is another blue scroll that says "America Central".