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Polignac, Melchior de

(Encyclopedia)Polignac, Melchior de də pôlēnyäkˈ [key], 1661–1742, French diplomat, churchman, and author, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As ambassador to Poland he directed (1697) the unsuccessful ...

Porţile de Fier

(Encyclopedia)Porţile de Fier: see Iron Gate, gorge, Romania and Serbia. ...

Portolá, Gaspar de

(Encyclopedia)Portolá, Gaspar de gäspärˈ dā pôrtōläˈ [key], fl. 1734–84, Spanish explorer in the Far West. After serving in Italy and Portugal, he was sent (1767) to America as governor of the California...

Piérola, Nicolás de

(Encyclopedia)Piérola, Nicolás de nēkōläsˈ dā pyāˈrōlä [key], 1839–1913, president of Peru (1879–81, 1895–99). Minister of finance under José Balta, he was accused of misappropriating funds and wa...

Bagnères-de-Luchon

(Encyclopedia)Bagnères-de-Luchon bänyĕrˌ-də-lüshôNˈ [key], town, Haute-Garonne dept., S France, at the foot of the Maladetta Mts. It is an important resort in the Pyrenees. Its warm sulfur springs have been...

Pisan, Christine de

(Encyclopedia)Pisan, Christine de krēstēnˈ də pēzäNˈ [key], 1364–c.1430, French poet, of Italian descent. She wrote many verse romances and works in prose, as well as the lyric poems for which she is most ...

Acosta, José de

(Encyclopedia)Acosta, José de hōsāˈ ᵺā äkōˈstä [key], c.1539–1600, Spanish Jesuit missionary to Peru. He wrote a well-known history of the Spanish colonial period, The Natural and Moral History of the ...

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