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Tortuga

(Encyclopedia)Tortuga tōrto͞oˈgä [key] [Span.,=turtle], island, c.70 sq mi (180 sq km), off N Haiti. It was a notorious rendezvous of pirates in the 17th cent. It is called Île de la Tortue by the Haitians. ...

Cuadra, Pablo Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Cuadra, Pablo Antonio, 1912–2002, Nicaraguan poet, b. Managua. Early in life, Cuadra became a member of the Vanguard literary movement and edited (1929) its journal. Influenced by Rubén Darío and ...

Alberdi, Juan Bautista

(Encyclopedia)Alberdi, Juan Bautista hwän boutēsˈtä älbārˈdē [key], 1810–84, Argentine political philosopher, patriot, and diplomat. He opposed Juan Manuel de Rosas, and after 1838 he spent years of exile...

fable

(Encyclopedia)fable, brief allegorical narrative, in verse or prose, illustrating a moral thesis or satirizing human beings. The characters of a fable are usually animals who talk and act like people while retainin...

Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de

(Encyclopedia)Sismondi, Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de zhäN shärl lāônärˈ sēmôNdˈ də sēsmôNdēˈ [key], 1773–1842, Swiss historian, economist, and critic. A member of the circle of Mme de Staël, he...

Ronaldo, Cristiano

(Encyclopedia)Ronaldo, Cristiano (Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro), 1985–, Portuguese soccer player. A forward, he began professional play in 2001 with Sporting Portugal. With Manchester United from 2003, he ...

Pueyrredón, Juan Martín de

(Encyclopedia)Pueyrredón, Juan Martín de hwän märtēnˈ dā pwāĭrādōnˈ [key], 1776–1850, Argentine general, supreme director of the United Provinces of La Plata (1816–19). In 1806, when British troops ...

Houellebecq, Michel

(Encyclopedia)Houellebecq, Michel mēshĕlˈ wĕlˈbĕk [key], b. 1958– or 1956–, French author, perhaps France's best-known contemporary novelist, b. Réunion as Michel Thomas. A literary pessimist and master ...

García Lorca, Federico

(Encyclopedia)García Lorca, Federico fāᵺārēˈkō gärthēˈä lôrˈkä [key], 1898–1936, Spanish poet and dramatist, b. Fuente Vaqueros. The poetry, passion, and violence of his work and his own tragic and...

Vendée

(Encyclopedia)Vendée väNdāˈ [key], department (1990 pop. 509,356), W France, on the Bay of Biscay, in Poitou. The offshore islands of Noirmoutier and Yeu are included in the department. Largely an agricultural ...

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