University of Santo Tomas in the context of "Extant literature"

The first university in the United States is a status asserted by more than one university in the United States. Harvard University, founded in 1636, is the oldest operating university in the United States. From 1898 to 1946, however, when the Philippines were a U.S. territory, the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, established in 1611, was considered the oldest university under the American flag.

There is no consensus national definition of what entitles an institution to be considered a university versus a college. Differing definitions are used at the state level, and the common understanding of university has evolved over time. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica describes the gradual emergence of U.S. universities as follows:

The Master of the Order of Preachers is the Superior General of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominicans.

The Master of the Order of Preachers is ex officio Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome, Italy, and of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.

Gerard Francisco Parco Timoner III OP (born 26 January 1968) is a Filipino Catholic priest who has served as the 88th Master of the Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans, since 13 July 2019. He is the first Asian to hold the position.

Timoner is also a professor of theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila and since 2014 a member of the International Theological Commission.

The Nippo Jisho (日葡辞書, literally the "Japanese–Portuguese Dictionary") or Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam (Vocabulário da Língua do Japão in modern Portuguese; "Vocabulary of the Language of Japan" in English) is a Japanese-to-Portuguese dictionary compiled by Jesuit missionaries and published in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1603. Containing entries for 32,293 Japanese words with explanations in Portuguese, it was the first dictionary of Japanese to a European language. The original publication uses the Latin alphabet exclusively, without Japanese characters (i.e. kanji or kana).

Facsimile editions were published in Japan in 1960 by Iwanami Shoten and again in 1973 and 1975 by Benseisha. The Benseisha reproduction is generally considered the clearer and more legible. A 1630 translation into Spanish published in Manila by the Dominican friars of the University of Santo Tomas, an 1869 translation into French, and a 1980 translation into Japanese (by Iwanami Shoten) also exist. As of 2023, a translation into English by Jeroen Lamers was in the works.