Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

261 results found

Peter I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Peter I, 1320–67, king of Portugal (1357–67), son and successor of Alfonso IV. He married (1336) Constance Manuel, a Castilian noblewoman, but subsequently fell in love with one of her ladies in w...

Gama, Vasco da

(Encyclopedia)Gama, Vasco da văˈskō də găˈmə, Port. väshˈkō dä gäˈmə [key], c.1469–1524, Portuguese navigator, the first European to journey by sea to India. His epochal voyage (1497–99) was made ...

Echeverría, Esteban

(Encyclopedia)Echeverría, Esteban āstāˈbän āˌchāvārēˈä [key], 1805–51, Argentine romantic poet, prose writer, and revolutionary propagandist. After five years in Europe he introduced romanticism in Ar...

Alemán, Miguel

(Encyclopedia)Alemán, Miguel mēgĕlˈ älāmänˈ [key], 1902–83, president of Mexico (1946–52). Son of a revolutionary general, Alemán became a highly successful lawyer and a champion of Mexican labor. He w...

Juncker, Jean-Claude

(Encyclopedia)Juncker, Jean-Claude, 1954–, Luxembourg political leader. A member of the Christian Social People's party, he was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1984. Juncker served as minister of labo...

John IV, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John IV, 1604–56, king of Portugal (1640–56). He succeeded as duke of Braganza in 1630. Descended from Manuel I and in illegitimate line from John I, he had the strongest claim to the Portuguese t...

Belmonte, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Belmonte, Juan hwän bĕlmōnˈtā [key], 1892–1962, Spanish matador, b. Seville. He is generally considered the greatest matador of all time, as remarkable for the poetry of his motion in the bullr...

Puerto Montt

(Encyclopedia)Puerto Montt mōnt [key], city (1992 pop. 130,730), capital of Los Lagos region, S central Chile, a port on Ancud Gulf, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. It is the southern terminus of Chile's mainland r...

de Larrocha, Alicia

(Encyclopedia)de Larrocha, Alicia (Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle), 1923–2009, Spanish pianist, b. Barcelona. One of the outstanding pianists of the 20th cent., she gave her first recital when she was five and ...

John II, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John II (John the Perfect), 1455–95, king of Portugal (1481–95), son and successor of Alfonso V. He was an astute politician and statesman and a patron of Renaissance art and learning. He reduced ...