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Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman I, d. 788, first Umayyad emir of Córdoba (756–88). The only survivor of the Abbasid massacre (750) of his family in Damascus, he fled from Syria and eventually went to Spain. There he...

Extremadura

(Encyclopedia)Extremadura ĕstrəmədo͝oˈrə [key], autonomous community, 16,075 sq mi (41,634 sq km), W central Spain, ...

Sagunto

(Encyclopedia)Sagunto sägo͞onˈtō [key], Latin Saguntum, town (1990 pop. 58,135), Valencia prov., E Spain, on the Palencia River, in Valencia. A seaport on the Mediterranean, it is an important metallurgical cen...

Whitby, town, England

(Encyclopedia)Whitby, town, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, N England, at the mouth of the Esk. It is a port and resort whose primary industries are fishing and tourism. Jet is found locally, and jewelry and ornament...

Jiménez de Cisneros, Francisco

(Encyclopedia)Jiménez de Cisneros, Francisco fränthēsˈkō hēmāˈnāth dā thēsnāˈrōs [key], 1436–1517, Spanish prelate and statesman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. An austere Franciscan, he was...

Alhambra, Moorish citadel, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Alhambra [Arab.,=the red], extensive group of buildings on a hill overlooking Granada, Spain. They were built chiefly between 1230 and 1354 and they formed a great citadel of the Moorish kings of Spai...

Alfonso IV, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso IV, 1291–1357, king of Portugal (1325–57), son and successor of Diniz. Disgruntled by the favoritism his father showed toward Alfonso's illegitimate half-brothers, Alfonso rose in revolt i...

Albornoz, Gil Álvarez Carrillo de

(Encyclopedia)Albornoz, Gil Álvarez Carrillo de hēl älˈvärĕth kärēˈlyō dā älbôrnôthˈ [key], 1310?–1367, Spanish and papal statesman and general, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Under Alfonso...

Beira, former province, Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Beira bāˈrə [key], region and former province, N central Portugal, S of the Douro River. The old capital was Coimbra. The province extended to the Atlantic coast between the Douro and the Mondego a...

needle

(Encyclopedia)needle, implement of metal or other material used to carry the thread in sewing and in various forms of needlework and manufacturing. The earliest needles were merely awls or punches. Stone, bone, ivo...