Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gadsden Purchase gădzˈdən [key], strip of land purchased (1853) by the United States from Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) had described the U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and Presiden...

(Encyclopedia) Cardoso, Fernando Henrique fərnäNˈdo͞o ānrēˈkə kärdōˈso͞o [key], 1931–, Brazilian sociologist and politician, president of Brazil (1995–2002), b. Rio de Janeiro. Originally a sociology...

(Encyclopedia) Pedro I (Dom Pedro de Alcântara) pāˈdrō [key], 1798–1834, first emperor of Brazil (1822–31); son of John VI of Portugal. Dom Pedro was a child when the Portuguese royal family, fleeing from Na...

(Encyclopedia) Casiquiare käsēkyäˈrā [key], river, c.100 mi (160 km) long, S Venezuela. Also called the Canal Casiquiare, it is a branch of the Orinoco and flows SW to the Río Negro, thus linking the Orinoco a...

(Encyclopedia) Corpus Christi kôrˈpəs krĭsˈtē [key], city (2020 pop. 317,863), seat of Nueces co., S Tex.; inc. 1852. It ...

(Encyclopedia) Fonseca, Rubem, 1925–2020, Brazilian short-story writer and novelist. Fonseca, who studied law and worked for a time as a police officer, is known for urban crime tales, many informed by his police ...

(Encyclopedia) Guadalupe Hidalgo, Treaty of, 1848, peace treaty between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican War. Negotiations were carried on for the United States by Nicholas P. Trist. The treaty wa...

(Encyclopedia) Salvador souN [key], city (1991 pop. 2,075,273), capital of Bahia state, E Brazil, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the commercial center of a fertile crescent (the Recôncavo) and a shipping point...

(Encyclopedia) Freyre, Gilberto jēlbĕrˈto͞o frāˈrə [key], 1900–1987, Brazilian sociologist and anthropologist, grad. Baylor Univ., 1920, M.A. Columbia, 1922. He taught, traveled, and gave lectures in many c...

(Encyclopedia) Tiradentes tērəᵺĕnˈtəs [key], 1748–92, Brazilian patriot. His real name was José Joaquim da Silva Xavier. He gained his nickname, which means “tooth-puller,” working as a healer in his y...