Columbia Encyclopedia

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Pasto

(Encyclopedia)Pasto päˈstō [key], city (1993 pop. 261,368), alt. 8,510 ft (2,594 m), capital of Nariño dept., SW Colombia. It is a distribution and processing center for the agricultural and mineral products of...

Putumayo

(Encyclopedia)Putumayo ēsäˈ [key], river, c.1,000 mi (1,600 km) long, rising in the Andes, S Colombia, and flowing SE to the Amazon in NW Brazil. Mostly navigable, it marks part of Colombia's boundary with Ecuad...

Natives, South American

(Encyclopedia)Natives, South American, aboriginal peoples of South America. In the land mass extending from the Isthmus of Panama to Tierra del Fuego, Native American civilizations developed long before the coming ...

García Moreno, Gabriel

(Encyclopedia)García Moreno, Gabriel gäbrēĕlˈ gärsēˈä mōrāˈnō [key], 1821–75, president of Ecuador (1861–65, 1869–75), b. Guayaquil. A conservative with deep religious convictions, he gradually c...

curassow

(Encyclopedia)curassow kyûrˈəsōˌ [key], common name for the largest members of an order of game birds called pigeon-toed fowls, which includes the white-crested guan and the rufous-bellied chachalaca, Ortalis ...

Gorgas, William Crawford

(Encyclopedia)Gorgas, William Crawford, 1854–1920, American disease and sanitation expert, surgeon general of the United States, b. Mobile, Ala., grad. Bellevue Hospital Medical College, 1879. He served with the ...

Negroponte, John Dimitri

(Encyclopedia)Negroponte, John Dimitri, 1939–, U.S. public official, b. London, England. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1960, and during his long diplomatic career was posted to Asia, Europe, Latin America...

Velasco Ibarra, José María

(Encyclopedia)Velasco Ibarra, José María hōsāˈ märēˈä vāläsˈkō ēbäˈrä [key], 1893–1979, president of Ecuador (1934–35, 1944–47, 1952–56, 1960–61, 1968–72). A noted orator, he was twice ...

Galápagos Islands

(Encyclopedia)Galápagos Islands gəlăpˈəgōs [key] [Span.,=tortoises], archipelago and province, 3,029 sq mi ...

Andes

(Encyclopedia)Andes ănˈdēz [key], mountain system, more than 5,000 mi (8,000 km) long, W South America. The ranges run generally parallel to the Pacific coast and extend from Tierra del Fuego northward, across t...

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