Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ayolas, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Ayolas, Juan de hwän dā äyōˈläs [key], d. 1537?, Spanish conquistador, explorer of the Río de la Plata country. He accompanied Pedro de Mendoza on his expedition of 1535–36. Sent to look for ...

Governador Valadares

(Encyclopedia)Governador Valadares go͝ovərnədo͞orˈ vələᵺäˈrəs [key], city, Minas Gerais...

Sierra Madre, mountain system, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Sierra Madre dĕl so͝orˈ [key] is a tumbled, broken mass of uptilted mountains that touch the Pacific coast but form into no clearly defined range. It spreads over S Mexico between the volcanic belt...

Stroessner, Alfredo

(Encyclopedia)Stroessner, Alfredo älfrāˈᵺō shtrsˈnər [key], 1912–2006, president and dictator of Paraguay (1954–89). Of a German Paraguayan family, he was commissioned an officer (1932) and fought in th...

Jundiaí

(Encyclopedia)Jundiaí zho͞ondyīˈ [key], city (1996 pop. 293,237), São Paulo state, S Brazil, on the Jundiaí River. It is an agricultural and industrial center. Among its products are textiles, ceramics, furni...

Piracicaba

(Encyclopedia)Piracicaba pērəsēkäˈbə [key], city (1996 pop. 302,605), São Paulo state, SE Brazil, on the Piracicaba River. It is the processing center of a rich agricultural region where sugarcane, cotton, r...

Dutch West India Company

(Encyclopedia)Dutch West India Company, trading and colonizing company, chartered by the States-General of the Dutch republic in 1621 and organized in 1623. Through its agency New Netherland was founded. The phenom...

Natives, South American

(Encyclopedia)Natives, South American, aboriginal peoples of South America. In the land mass extending from the Isthmus of Panama to Tierra del Fuego, Native American civilizations developed long before the coming ...

Gila

(Encyclopedia)Gila hēˈlə [key], river, 630 mi (1,014 km) long, rising in the mountains of W N.Mex. and flowing W across Ariz. to the Colorado River at Yuma, Ariz.; the San Francisco River is its main tributary. ...

Brazilian literature

(Encyclopedia)Brazilian literature, the writings of both the European explorers of Brazil and its later inhabitants. In 1902 Euclides da Cunha wrote his masterly description of an uprising in the Brazilian northe...