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Ávila

(Encyclopedia)Ávila äˈvēlä [key], town, capital of Ávila prov., central Spain, on the upper Adaja River. It attracts many tourists. One of the great religious centers of Spain, Á...

Charles III, king of Spain, and of Naples and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Charles III, 1716–88, king of Spain (1759–88) and of Naples and Sicily (1735–59), son of Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese. Recognized as duke of Parma and Piacenza in 1731, he relinquished the duc...

Tarshish

(Encyclopedia)Tarshish tärˈshĭsh [key], in the Bible. 1 Eponym of a country distant from Palestine which cannot be accurately identified; Cyprus, Spain, and Tarsus (S Asia Minor) have been suggested. Traditional...

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...

Yusuf ibn Tashfin

(Encyclopedia)Yusuf ibn Tashfin yo͞oso͝ofˈ ĭˈbən täshfēnˈ [key], d. 1106, ruler in the dynasty of the Almoravids (c.1059–1106). A Muslim, he led the Berbers in N Africa, continued the conquest of Morocco...

Bidasoa

(Encyclopedia)Bidasoa bēˈdäsōä, Span. bēᵺäsōˈä [key] or Bidassoa, river, 35 mi (56 km) long, Basque Country, N Spain, and Pyrénées Atlantiques dept., SW France. The river rises in Spain on the souther...

West Florida Controversy

(Encyclopedia)West Florida Controversy, conflict between Spain and the United States concerning possession of Florida. By the Treaty of Paris of 1763, Britain received Florida from Spain, and from France that porti...

Hasdrubal d. 221 b.c., Carthaginian general

(Encyclopedia)Hasdrubal hăzˈdro͞obəl [key], d. 221 b.c., Carthaginian general. He fought under his father-in-law, Hamilcar Barca, in Africa and in Spain, where he succeeded (229 or 228 b.c.) Hamilcar as general...

Gálvez, José de

(Encyclopedia)Gálvez, José de gälˈvāth [key], 1720–87, Spanish colonial administrator. Appointed as a governor in the Philippines in 1750, he later became visitor general to New Spain (1765–72), holding m...

Family Compact, in French and Spanish history

(Encyclopedia)Family Compact, several alliances between France and Spain in the form of agreements between the French and Spanish branches of the Bourbon family. The first of the three compacts, the Treaty of the E...