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New Granada

(Encyclopedia)New Granada grənäˈdə [key], former Spanish colony, N South America. It included at its greatest extent present Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. Between 1499 and 1510 a host of conquerors ...

Oporto

(Encyclopedia)Oporto o͝opôrˈtō [key], Port. Pôrto, city (1991 pop. 310,600), capital of Porto dist. and Douro Litoral, NW Portugal, near the mouth of the Douro River. It is Portugal's second largest city, afte...

Gerson, John

(Encyclopedia)Gerson, John (Jean Charlier de Gerson) gûrˈsən; zhäN shärlyāˈ də zhârsôNˈ [key], 1363–1429, French ecclesiastical statesman and writer. He studied (1377–94) under Pierre d'Ailly at the ...

Pizarro, Gonzalo

(Encyclopedia)Pizarro, Gonzalo pēthärˈrō [key], c.1506–1548, Spanish conquistador, brother of Francisco Pizarro. A lieutenant of his brother in the conquest of Peru, Gonzalo aided in the defense of Cuzco (15...

Santiago, city, Chile

(Encyclopedia)Santiago säntēäˈgō [key], city (1990 est. pop. 4,395,000), central Chile, capital of Chile and of Metropolitana de Santiago region, on the Mapocho River. It is the political, commercial, and fina...

Lope de Vega Carpio, Félix

(Encyclopedia)Lope de Vega Carpio, Félix fāˈlēks lōˈpā dā vāˈgä kärˈpyō [key], 1562–1635, Spanish dramatic poet, founder of the Spanish drama, b. Madrid. Lope, born a peasant, was orphaned at an ear...

Ribaut, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Ribaut or Ribault, Jean both: zhäN rēbōˈ [key], c.1520–65, French mariner and colonizer in Florida, b. Dieppe. When Gaspard de Coligny decided to plant a French colony as an asylum for Huguenots...

Araucanians

(Encyclopedia)Araucanians əroukänˈēən [key], South American people, occupying most of S central Chile at the time of the Spanish conquest (1540). The Araucanians were an agricultural people living in small set...

Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de

(Encyclopedia)Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de fränthēsˈkō väsˈkāth dā kōrōnäˈᵺō [key], c.1510–1554, Spanish explorer. He went to Mexico with Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and in 1538 was made governor...

Saint Augustine

(Encyclopedia)Saint Augustine mətănˈzəs [key], also a national monument, was built by Spain in 1742. Other places of interest in the city are the old schoolhouse, the house reputed to be the oldest in the Unite...