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Filibuster
(1,002 words)

The term filibuster derives from the Dutch word vrijbuiter (“privateer”), which became French flibustier, Spanish filibustero and German filibuster. Initially, this was the name for a specific type of privateer in the Caribbean context, but the scope of the term changed and expanded in the course of the 19th century. (In a second sense, the English to filibuster denotes the deliberate holding up of a ballot, especially in the US Senate, by means of an exaggeratedly long speech.)

In the parlance of Spanish colonialism, filibuster was a pejorative term for those who fought the Lati…

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Rinke, Stefan, “Filibuster”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_019268>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180126



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