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proud history. From the half mythical
exploits of Hercules and Julius Caesar to
the successive conquests of Visigoths,
Moors, and Christian kings, Seville played a
major role in the early history of the coun-
try and was successively the residence of
C
ASTILE
's monarchs, the headquarters of
the S
PANISH
I
NQUISITION
, and the first admin-
istrative center of Spain's colonial empire.
As the wealth of the New World flowed up
the Guadalquivir River, a cosmopolitan
population of traders, bankers, and adven-
turers thronged its streets with their fine
houses and splendid churches (including
the completion of the largest Gothic cathe-
dral in the world). Even after the silting up
of the port caused the loss of the city's com-
mercial dominance to C
ÁDIZ
, Seville
remained a cultural center whose lively
society is portrayed in plays, operas, and
novels. Escaping the damage that 19th- and
20th-century civil strife brought to most
Spanish cities (although Franco's occupa-
tion forces killed many of Seville's citizens),
it seemed to dream on in a state of static
nostalgia until the 1992 celebrations sur-
rounding the C
HRISTOPHER
C
OLUMBUS
quin-
centenary thrust it into the center of world
attention and stimulated a burst of modern-
ization. Seville in the 21st century, with a
rising economy and nearly 1 million people
in and around its boundaries, has entered
an era of renewal.
the marriage of F
ERDINAND
V and I
SABELLA
I in 1474 to the end of the Spanish H
ABSBURG
dynasty in 1700 and prefer the term
“Golden
Era.”
Furthermore the age of Spain's great-
est cultural achievement is more properly
understood to include not only its outstand-
ing literary figures but also its most eminent
artists. Without denying the merits of par-
ticular masters in later centuries, the con-
junction of such names as M
IGUEL
DE
C
ERVANTES
, F
ÉLIX
L
OPE
DE
V
EGA
, P
EDRO
C
ALDERÓN
DE
LA
B
ARCA
, and T
IRSO
DE
M
OLINA
, as well as G
ARCILASO
DE
LA
V
EGA
,
F
RANCISCO
DE
Q
UEVEDO
, L
UIS
DE
G
ÓNGORA
,
L
UIS
DE
L
EÓN
, J
OHN
OF
THE
C
ROSS
, and
T
ERESA
OF
Á
VILA
, with the artistic genius of
D
IEGO
DE
V
ELÁZQUEZ
, E
L
G
RECO
, and B
AR
-
TOLOMÉ
E
STEBAN
M
URILLO
during the 1500s
and 1600s, not to mention the humanists
J
UAN
L
UIS
V
IVES
and E
LIO
A
NTONIO
DE
N
EBRIJA
, creates an unparalleled image of
genius. Spain's cultural leadership was rec-
ognized and acknowledged throughout
Europe during this epoch. Its global out-
reach that attained and explored a New
World and, however grudgingly, its pre-
dominance in Europe were seen as ratifying
Spanish eminence.
Soares, Mário
(1924- )
Portuguese statesman
Son of a prominent lawyer and political
opponent of the Salazar dictatorship, Soares
was educated at the University of Lisbon
and in the Faculty of Law at the University
of Paris. He became well known for his
defense of victims of political persecution,
was himself imprisoned on a number of
occasions, and banished to the West Afri-
can dependency of S
ÃO
T
OMÉ
in 1968. He
took up exile in France two years later
Siglo de Oro (Golden Age)
This term, literally meaning “golden cen-
tury,” refers to Spain's cultural predomi-
nance in Europe and has been used in a
variety of ways. In the narrowest sense it
refers to the 16th century; however, some
scholars apply it to the whole period from
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