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Clipperton Island

(Encyclopedia)Clipperton Island, uninhabited atoll, c.2 sq mi (5.2 sq km), in the Pacific Ocean, c.800 mi (1,290 km) SW of Mexico. It was used as a base by John Clipperton, an English pirate. The French claimed it ...

Pinckney, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pinckney, Thomas, 1750–1828, American political leader and diplomat, b. Charleston, S.C.; brother of C. C. Pinckney and cousin of Charles Pinckney. At the outbreak of the American Revolution he join...

llanos

(Encyclopedia)llanos yäˈnōs [key], Spanish-American term for prairies, specifically those of the Orinoco River basin of N South America, in Venezuela and E Colombia. The llanos of the Orinoco are a vast, hot reg...

Floridablanca, José Moñino, conde de

(Encyclopedia)Floridablanca or Florida Blanca, José Moñino, conde de hōsāˈ mōnyēˈnō kōnˈdā dā flōrēˈᵺä blängˈkä [key], 1728–1808, Spanish statesman. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from S...

Corregidor

(Encyclopedia)Corregidor kərĕˈgĭdôrˌ [key], historic fortified island (c.2 sq mi/5 sq km), at the entrance to Manila Bay, just off Bataan peninsula of Luzon island, the Philippines. From the days of the Spani...

Godoy, Manuel de

(Encyclopedia)Godoy, Manuel de mänwĕlˈ dā gōᵺoiˈ [key], 1767–1851, Spanish statesman. An army officer, he won the favor of Queen María Luisa and rose rapidly at the court of Charles IV. The king made him...

Blest Gana, Alberto

(Encyclopedia)Blest Gana, Alberto älbārˈtō blĕst gäˈnä [key], 1830–1920, Chilean novelist. He is considered the principal 19th-century Spanish-American realist. Although as a diplomat he spent much of his...

Martí, José

(Encyclopedia)Martí, José hōsāˈ märtēˈ [key], 1853–95, Cuban essayist, poet, and patriot, leader of the Cuban struggle for independence. One of the greatest prose writers of Spanish America, he is noted f...

Alcatraz

(Encyclopedia)Alcatraz ălˈkətrăzˌ [key] [Sp. Álcatraces=pelicans], rocky island in San Francisco Bay, W Calif, about one mile (1.61 km) north of San Francisco. Alcatraz was first sighted by the Spanish in 177...

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