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Hispaniola
Hispaniola , Span. Española , second largest island of the West Indies, 29,530 sq mi (76,483 sq km), between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Haiti occupies the western third of the island and the Dominican Republic the remainder. Visited by Columbus in 1492, the island was called Española. ...
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Alonso de Ojeda
Alonso de Ojeda , c.1466-1515?, Spanish conquistador. He joined Columbus on his second voyage and in 1499—at first accompanied by Vespucci —explored the northeastern coast of South America. In 1508 he was made governor of territories of N South America. Near present Cartagena he was def...
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Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus Ital. Cristoforo Colombo , Span. Cristóbal Colón , 1451-1506, European explorer, b. Genoa, Italy.
Early Years
Columbus spent some of his early years at his father's trade of weaving and later became a sailor on the Mediterranean. Shipwrecked near the P...
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tody
tody , common name for small (3-4 in./9-10 cm) West Indian birds of the family Todidae, comprising the single genus Todus. Bright green above with red throats, they are forest birds called robins by Jamaicans, although not related to the robin. They are typically divided into four lowland species,...
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Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa , c.1475-1519, Spanish conquistador, discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. After sailing with Bastidas in 1501, Balboa probably went to Hispaniola. In 1510, fleeing from creditors, he hid on the vessel that took Enciso to Panama. After reaching Darién , Bal...
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Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado , 1486-1541, Spanish conquistador. He went to Hispaniola (1510), sailed in the expedition (1518) of Juan de Grijalva, and was the chief lieutenant of Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico. He commanded at Tenochtitlán in the absence of Cortés, and hi...
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Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas , 1474-1566, Spanish missionary and historian, called the apostle of the Indies. He went to Hispaniola with his father in 1502, and eight years later he was ordained a priest. In 1514 he began to work for the improvement of conditions among the indigenous population, es...
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Sir William Phips
Sir William Phips 1651-95, American colonial governor. Born in what is today Maine, he was a carpenter and shipbuilder in Boston and became interested in sunken treasure. On his second hunt for treasure, which was financed by the 2d duke of Albemarle, he recovered (1687) some £300,000 wor...
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Martín Alonso Pinzón
Martín Alonso Pinzón d.1493, Spanish navigator. The commander of the Pinta on Columbus's first voyage to the New World in 1492, he was already an experienced seaman and an influential citizen of Palos de la Frontera . The support given to Columbus by Pinzón and his brothers ...
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Diego de Velázquez
Diego de Velázquez , c.1460-1524?, Spanish conquistador, first governor of Cuba, b. Cuéllar, Spain. He sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage (1493) to Hispaniola and in 1511 commanded an expedition sent by Diego Columbus to conquer Cuba. Landing at Baracoa , where he e...
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