Sarney Costa, José, 1930-, Brazilian politician, president of Brazil (1985-90). He served as a federal deputy (1958-64), governor of Maranhâo (1965-70), and federal senator (1970-84). He became vice president in the elections (1985) ending military rule, and was sworn in as president upon the death of President-elect Neves (Apr., 1985). The nascent democracy over which he presided faced severe problems including a massive foreign debt, massive inflation, endemic unemployment, poverty, and social injustice. During his term, a Constituent Assembly wrote a new democratic constitution. He was succeeded by Fernando Collor de Mello. Sarney again served in the Brazilian senate after his presidency, and was twice elected (1995, 2003) senate president.

Da Costa, Uriel: see Acosta, Uriel.

Costa, Lúcio, 1902-98, As the principal designer of the city of Brasília (1957), Costa is known for his use of reinforced concrete in designs that combine traditional and modern forms. In Rio de Janeiro, the block of apartments in Guinle Park (1948-54) typifies his streamlined work. The Ministry of Education and Health (1937-42) exhibits his understanding of the effect of climatic considerations on architectural design.

Costa, Lorenzo, 1460-1535, Italian painter of the Ferrarese and Bolognese schools. Trained in the manner of such painters as Tura and Cossa, he modified the strident Ferrarese style when he became a partner of Francia. Among his paintings are the Madonna and Child with the Bentivoglio Family and the Triumphs of Petrarch in San Giacomo Maggiore, the Madonna with Saints in San Petronio, and the Madonna in San Giovanni in Monte, all in Bologna. His Three Saints is in the Metropolitan Museum.

Costa, Isaäc da, 1798-1860, Dutch poet and historian, b. Amsterdam, of an aristocratic Sephardic Jewish family. Deeply influenced by Bilderdijk, he entered (1822) the Reformed Church, and much of his poetry is fervently Christian. Da Costa's period of poetic maturity is placed between the publication of his political poem Vijf-en-twintig Jaren [twenty-five years] in 1849, which revealed unusual social consciousness, and the appearance of the narrative poem De Slag bij Nieuwpoort [the battle of Nieuport] in 1859. He was a distinguished scholar in Protestant biblical theology and the classics. His work on Jewish history was translated into English as Israel and the Gentiles (1855).

Costa i Llobera, Miguel, 1854-1922, Catalonian poet and orator. In 1888 he was ordained a priest in Rome, where he developed a love of Latin literature. Costa i Llobera's works are serious and contemplative, and they exerted a strong influence on Catalonian literature in general. His masterpiece is Horacianes [poems in the manner of Horace] (1906). Among his other works are De l'agre de la terra [from the bitterness of the earth] (1897) and Tradiciones i fantasies [traditions and fantasies] (1903).

Costa e Silva, Artur da, 1902-69, president of Brazil (1967-69). An army general, he participated in the 1964 coup that deposed President João Goulart. He served as war minister (1964-66) under President Humberto Castelo Branco and succeeded him in office. As president, he rejected the calls for a general amnesty, refused to hold elections, and repressed student strikes. Emboldened by the nation's strong economic performance, he moved to silence his critics. In Dec., 1968, he assumed emergency powers, dismissing congress and imposing news censorship. After 1968, torture of dissidents became widespread. He suffered a stroke in Aug., 1969, at which time power passed to a military triumvirate.

Costa del Sol, a strip of coastline, S. Spain, in Andalusia, extending from Motril to Estepona The area has become famous as a Mediterranean coastal resort, and its tourist industry continues to expand.

Costa Rica, officially Republic of Costa Rica, republic (2005 est. pop. 4,016,000), 19,575 sq mi (50,700 sq km), Central America. It is bounded on the north by Nicaragua, on the east by the Caribbean Sea, on the southeast by Panama, and on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. The capital and largest city is San José. In addition to the capital, other important cities are Alajuela, Heredia, Puntarenas, and Cartago.

Land and People

The coastal plains are low, hot, and heavily forested. Bananas, cocoa, and sugarcane are cultivated there. In the northwest is the Nicoya peninsula, a semiarid plain where cattle and grain are raised. A massive cordillera, with peaks over 12,000 ft (3,658 m) high, cuts the country from northwest to southeast. Within it, under the shadow of volcanoes such as Irazú, lies the Central Valley, with a perennially springlike climate. This valley is the heart of the country, where coffee is cultivated and most of the population and market facilities are located.

One of the most stable countries in Latin America, Costa Rica has a long democratic tradition and no regular military forces. The population is largely of Spanish and mestizo descent. The official language is Spanish, and English is also spoken. About 75% of the people are Roman Catholics; there is a large Protestant minority.

Economy and Government

Costa Rica is an agricultural country, although tourism and industry are being developed at a moderate pace. Industries include food processing and the manufacture of electronic components, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, and plastics. Bananas, pineapples, coffee, melons, sugar, and beef are exported, as well as manufactured goods such as textiles, electronics, and medical equipment. Raw materials, consumer goods, capital equipment, and petroleum are imported. The United States is the largest trading partner.

The country is governed under the 1949 constitution. The president, who is both the chief of state and head of government, is elected to a single four-year term. Members of the unicameral 57-seat Legislative Assembly are also elected for four years. Administratively, the country is divided into seven provinces.

History

Early History through the Nineteenth Century

Although Columbus skirted the Costa Rican coast in 1502, resistance by the indigenous inhabitants and disease prevented the Spanish from establishing a permanent settlement until 1563, when Cartago was founded. The region was administered as part of the captaincy general of Guatemala. Few of the native inhabitants survived, and the colonists, unable to establish a hacienda system based on slave labor, generally became small landowners. From Cartago, westward expansion into the plateau began in the 18th cent.

Costa Rica became independent from Spain in 1821. From 1822 to 1823 it was part of the Mexican Empire of Augustín de Iturbide. It then became part of the Central American Federation until 1838, when the sovereign republic of Costa Rica was proclaimed. In 1857, Costa Rica participated in the defeat of the filibuster William Walker, who had taken over Nicaragua.

The cultivation of coffee, introduced in the 19th cent., led to the creation of a landed oligarchy that dominated the country until the administration of Tomás Guardia (1870-82). In 1874, Minor Cooper Keith founded Limón and introduced banana cultivation. Keith also started the United Fruit Company. Later many tracts had to be abandoned because of leaf blight. Costa Rica's history of orderly, democratic government began in the late 19th cent.

The Twentieth Century

The orderly pattern was broken in 1917, when Federico Tinoco overthrew the elected president, Alfredo González. The majority of Costa Ricans, as well as the United States, opposed Tinoco, and he was deposed in 1919. Costa Rica cooperated with the United States during World War II and after the war joined the United Nations and other international organizations. Following the war, United Fruit started new plantations on the Pacific coast.

In 1948 there was a second breakdown of the political system. In a close presidential election Otilio Ulate appeared to have defeated a former president, Dr. Rafael Calderón. But the incumbent, Teodoro Picado, accused Ulate's supporters of fraud and obtained a congressional invalidation of the election. A six-week civil war ensued, at the conclusion of which a junta led by José Figueres Ferrer, a backer of Ulate, assumed power. Picado was exiled and the armed forces were disbanded, to be replaced by a civil guard. Forces from Nicaragua backed Picado, and the Organization of American States (OAS) was called upon to mediate between the two countries.

In 1949 a new constitution was adopted, and the junta transferred power to Ulate as the elected president. Figueres was elected his successor in 1953. In UN-supervised elections in 1958, Mario Enchadi Jiménez defeated Figueres's candidate. Politics remained stable in the 1960s. The Irazú volcano erupted in 1963-64 and caused serious damage to agriculture; another volcano, Arenal, erupted in 1968 for the first time in hundreds of years, killing many. Figueres was again elected president in 1970, and Daniel Oduber Quiros was elected president in 1974, but the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN) lost its majority in the legislature for the first time in 25 years. In the late 1970s the country entered a recession and found itself surrounded by increasingly unstable neighbors.

In the early 1980s the PLN returned to power. Oscar Arias Sánchez, the PLN candidate elected in 1986, worked to preserve his nation's neutrality. The economy continued to worsen, however, and in 1990 Rafael Angel Calderón Fournier of the Social Christian Unity party (PUSC) was elected to the presidency by a 3% margin. José María Figueres Olsen, the PLN candidate and son of José Figueres Ferrer, was elected president in 1994. In 1998, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría of the PUSC won the presidency; he was succeeded by fellow party member Abel Pacheco de la Espriella in 2002. The country was shaken in 2004 by charges that Presidents Calderón and Rodríguez had received illegal kickbacks from government contracts and that, after leaving office, President Figueres had received large consulting fees relating to government contracts. Former president Oscar Arias Sánchez was elected to a second term in 2006.

Costa Mesa, city (1990 pop. 96,357), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific south of Santa Ana; inc. 1953. It is a transportation, residential, and light industrial center. In addition to research laboratories, huge corporate complexes and shopping malls like the South Coast Plaza have been built since the 1980s, and the city has two concert halls, one (2006) designed by César Pelli. Vanguard Univ. of Southern California is in Costa Mesa.

Costa Brava, a strip of coastline, Girona prov., NE Spain, in Catalonia, near the French border on the Mediterranean. One of the most agriculturally rich areas of Spain, it has enjoyed a booming tourist industry since the end of World War II.

officially Republic of Costa Rica

Country, Central America. Area: 19,730 sq mi (51,100 sq km). Population (2006 est.): 4,274,000. Capital: San José. Most of the people are of Spanish ancestry or are mestizos. Language: Spanish (official). Religion: Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic [official]; also Protestant, other Christians). Currency: colón. Costa Rica's Pacific coast rises abruptly into central highlands and a volcanic mountain chain that forms the backbone of the country and descends gradually to the Caribbean coastal plain. The climate ranges from temperate to tropical, and the wide variety of plants and animals includes species found in both North America and South America. The developing market economy is largely based on coffee, pineapple, and banana exports. Sugar is another significant cash crop, and beef is also important. Costa Rica is a multiparty republic with one legislative house; the head of state and government is the president. Christopher Columbus landed in what is now Costa Rica in 1502, in an area inhabited by a number of small independent Indian tribes. These peoples were not easily dominated by European adventurers who followed, and it took some 60 years for the Spaniards to establish a permanent settlement there. Ignored by the Spanish crown because of its lack of mineral wealth, the colony grew slowly. Coffee exports and the construction of a rail line improved its economy in the 19th century. It joined the short-lived Mexican Empire in 1821, was a member of the United Provinces of Central America (1823–38), and adopted a constitution in 1871. In 1890 Costa Ricans held what is considered the first free and honest election in Central America, beginning a tradition of democracy for which Costa Rica is renowned. In 1987 Pres. Oscar Arias Sánchez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his Central American peace plan. In the early 21st century many Costa Ricans looked to increasingly free trade with the United States as a solution to the country's economic woes.

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