  We analyse the baryon mass spectrum in a framework which combines the 1/Nc
expansion with chiral perturbation theory. Meson loop contributions involving
the full SU(3) octet of pseudoscalar Goldstone bosons are evaluated, and the
influence of explicit chiral and flavor symmetry breaking by non-zero and
unequal quark masses is investigated. We also discuss sigma terms and the
strangeness contribution to the nucleon mass.
