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Portugal

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Portugal pôrˈchəgəl [key], officially Portuguese Republic, republic (2015 est. pop. 10,418,000), 35,553 sq mi (92,082 sq km), SW Europe, on the western side of the Iberian Peninsula and inc...

Inquisition

(Encyclopedia)Inquisition ĭnˌkwĭzĭshˈən [key], tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church established for the investigation of heresy. The Spanish Inquisition was independent of the medieval Inquisition. It was...

Gustavus II

(Encyclopedia)Gustavus II (Gustavus Adolphus), 1594–1632, king of Sweden (1611–32), son and successor of Charles IX. In military organization and strategy, Gustavus was ahead of his time. While most powers re...

Maximilian I, 1459–1519, Holy Roman emperor and German king

(Encyclopedia)Maximilian I, 1459–1519, Holy Roman emperor and German king (1493–1519), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. As emperor, he aspired to restore forceful imperial leadership and i...

airline industry

(Encyclopedia)airline industry, the business of transporting paying passengers and freight by air along regularly scheduled routes, typically by airplanes but also by helicopter. Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin set up ...

airship

(Encyclopedia)airship, an aircraft that consists of a cigar-shaped gas bag, or envelope, filled with a lighter-than-air gas to provide lift, a propulsion system, a steering mechanism, and a gondola accommodating pa...

Pacific Ocean

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Pacific Ocean, largest and deepest ocean, c.70,000,000 sq mi (181,300,000 sq km), occupying about one third of the earth's surface; named by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan; the southern part i...

Italian Wars

(Encyclopedia)Italian Wars, 1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split into numerous ri...

Marx, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Marx, Karl, 1818–83, German social philosopher, the chief theorist of modern socialism and communism. In 1847 Marx joined the Communist League and with Engels wrote for it the famous Communist M...

Suez Canal

(Encyclopedia)Suez Canal, Arab. Qanat as Suways, waterway of Egypt extending from Port Said to Port Tawfiq (near Suez) and connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez and thence with the Red Sea. The can...