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North American Free Trade Agreement

(Encyclopedia)North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), accord establishing a free-trade zone in North America; it was signed in 1992 by Canada, Mexico, and the United States and took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. NAF...

Tapachula

(Encyclopedia)Tapachula täpächo͞oˈlä [key], city (1990 pop. 138,858) Chiapas state, SE Mexico, at the foot of the Chiapas highlands and near the Guatemala border. It is the commercial center of a coffee-growin...

Clavijero, Francisco Javier

(Encyclopedia)Clavijero, Francisco Javier fränsēsˈkō hävyĕrˈ klävēhāˈrō [key], 1731–87, Mexican scholar and historian. A Jesuit, he taught in Mexico until the expulsion of the order (1767). From his r...

Constantine, Roman general

(Encyclopedia)Constantine, d. 411, Roman general. He was proclaimed emperor by the Roman troops in Britain in 407 and led a revolt in Gaul and Spain against the Western emperor Honorius. He conquered part of Gaul a...

Salinas de Gortari, Carlos

(Encyclopedia)Salinas de Gortari, Carlos, 1948–, president of Mexico (1988–94). A Harvard-educated political economist, he became minister of planning and the budget (1982–87) and succeeded Miguel de la Madri...

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...

Nepos, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Nepos, Julius, d. 480, Roman emperor of the West (474–80). The military governor of Dalmatia, he was appointed emperor of the West by Leo I, emperor of the East. A year later he was deposed by Orest...

Portillo y Pacheco, José López

(Encyclopedia)Portillo y Pacheco, José López, 1920–, president of Mexico (1976–82). He held various government posts before becoming minister of finance in 1971. As president, he greatly expanded the Mexican ...

Mexican War

(Encyclopedia)Mexican War, 1846–48, armed conflict between the United States and Mexico. The United States had won an easy victory, partly because Mexico, torn by civil strife, could not present a united fron...

Rulers of the Roman Empire (table)

(Encyclopedia)Rulers of the Roman Empire(including dates of reign) Emperors in the East(until the fall of Rome; see table entitled Rulers of the Byzantine Empireat Byzantine Empire for later emperors) Empero...