Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

260 results found

Rivera, Fructuoso

(Encyclopedia)Rivera, Fructuoso rēvāˈrä [key], 1790?–1854, first president of Uruguay (1830–34, 1839–42). After serving with Artigas, he was one of the Thirty-three Immortals who raised the standard of i...

Spanish-American literature

(Encyclopedia)Spanish-American literature, the writings of both the European explorers of Spanish America and its later inhabitants. See also Spanish literature; Portuguese literature; Brazilian literature. T...

alfalfa

(Encyclopedia)alfalfa lo͞osûnˈ [key], perennial leguminous plant (Medicago sativa) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), the most important pasture and hay plant in North America, also grown extensively in A...

Colossus of Rhodes

(Encyclopedia)Colossus of Rhodes kəlŏsˈəs [key], large statue of Helios, the sun god, destroyed by an earthquake in antiquity. Consider one of the Seven Wonders of the World by the ancients, it was built in par...

Falla, Manuel de

(Encyclopedia)Falla, Manuel de mänwĕlˈ dā fäˈlyä [key], 1876–1946, Spanish composer; pupil of Felipe Pedrell. In Paris from 1907 to 1914, he met Debussy, Dukas, and Ravel, and was to some extent influenced...

goosefoot

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Lamb's-quarters Chenopodium album, a member of the goosefoot family goosefoot, common name for the genus Chenopodium, as well as for the goosefoot family, Chenopodiaceae, a family of widely di...

Group of Seven

(Encyclopedia)Group of Seven (G7), international organization officially established in 1985 to facilitate economic and commercial cooperation among the world's largest industrial nations, including efforts to aid ...

gaucho

(Encyclopedia)gaucho gouˈchō [key], cowboy of the Argentine and Uruguayan pampas (grasslands). The typical gaucho, a familiar figure in the 18th and 19th cent., was a daring, skillful horseman and plainsman. As f...

Morales, Evo

(Encyclopedia)Morales, Evo (Juan Evo Morales Ayma) āˈvō mōräˈlās [key], 1959–, Bolivian political leader, president of Bolivia (2006–19). An Aymara, he became a coca farmer when his family moved to Boliv...

caudillo

(Encyclopedia)caudillo kôdēlˈyō Span. kouᵺēˈyō [key], [Span.,= military strongman], type of South American political leader that arose with the 19th-century wars of independence. The first caudillos were o...

Browse by Subject