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Alamo, the

(Encyclopedia)Alamo, the ălˈəmōˌ [key] [Span.,=cottonwood], building in San Antonio, Tex., “the cradle of Texas liberty.” Built as a chapel after 1744, it is all that remains of the mission of San Antonio ...

Altichiero da Zevio

(Encyclopedia)Altichiero da Zevio ältēkyāˈrō dä tsāvˈyō [key], c.1330–c.1395, Italian painter, follower of Giotto. He worked in Verona and then Padua. His frescoes in the churches of Sant' Antonio and Sa...

White, Edward Higgins, 2d

(Encyclopedia)White, Edward Higgins, 2d, 1930–67, American astronaut, b. San Antonio. While serving as pilot of Gemini 4 (June 3–7, 1965), he became the first American to perform extravehicular activity. He had...

Escobedo, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Escobedo, Juan de hwän dā āskōbāˈᵺō [key], d. 1578, Spanish politician, secretary to John of Austria in the Netherlands. He was murdered while on a mission in Madrid. Antonio Pérez was, perh...

Benedetto da Majano

(Encyclopedia)Benedetto da Majano bānādĕtˈtō dä mäyäˈnō [key], 1442–97. Italian sculptor and architect of the Florentine school. His pulpits, altarpieces, and other church furniture are beautifully exec...

Pichincha

(Encyclopedia)Pichincha pēchēnˈchä [key], active volcano, 15,918 ft (4,852 m) high, N Ecuador, near Quito. Its most serious recent eruption was in 1998–2001. On its lower slopes, in the decisive battle of Pic...

flamenco

(Encyclopedia)flamenco, Spanish music and dance typical of the Romani (Gypsy), or gitano. Flamenco dancing is characterized by colorful costumes, intense and erotic movements, stamping of the feet (zapateado), and ...

Junín, village, Peru

(Encyclopedia)Junín, city (1993 pop. 16,183), W central Peru, in the Andes. In the vicinity on Aug. 6, 1824, Simón Bolívar, aided by Antonio José de Sucre, defeated the Spanish general José Canterac in the fir...

Sansovino, Andrea

(Encyclopedia)Sansovino, Andrea ändrĕˈä sänsōvēˈnō [key], c.1460–1529, Florentine sculptor and architect of the High Renaissance, b. Monte Sansavino. His real name was Andrea Contucci. He trained under A...

Brazilian literature

(Encyclopedia)Brazilian literature, the writings of both the European explorers of Brazil and its later inhabitants. In 1902 Euclides da Cunha wrote his masterly description of an uprising in the Brazilian northe...