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Wichita, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Wichita wĭchˈĭtô [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Caddoan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They formerly occupied central Kan...

Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y

(Encyclopedia)Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y rôᵺrēˈgāth ᵺā sēlˈvä ē vāläthˈkāth [key], 1599–1660, b. Seville. He was the most celebrated painter of the Spanish school. Velázquez's dev...

Lafayette

(Encyclopedia)Lafayette läˌfēĕtˈ, lăfˌēĕtˈ [key]. 1 City (1990 pop. 23,501), Contra Costa co., NW Calif., a residential suburb in the San Francisco–Oakland area; settled 1848, inc. 1968. The city is a h...

London, Jack

(Encyclopedia)London, Jack (John Griffith London), 1876–1916, American author, b. San Francisco. The illegitimate son of William Chaney, an astrologer, and Flora Wellman, a seamstress and medium, he had a poverty...

Alvarado, Pedro de

(Encyclopedia)Alvarado, Pedro de älväräˈᵺō [key], 1486–1541, Spanish conquistador. He went to Hispaniola (1510), sailed in the expedition (1518) of Juan de Grijalva, and was the chief lieutenant of Herná...

Isabella II

(Encyclopedia)Isabella II, 1830–1904, queen of Spain (1833–68), daughter of Ferdinand VII and of Maria Christina. Her uncle, Don Carlos, contested her succession under the Salic law, and thus the Carlist Wars b...

De Soto, Hernando

(Encyclopedia)De Soto, Hernando dĭsōˈtō, Span. ĕrnänˈdō dā sōˈtō [key], c.1500–1542, Spanish explorer. After serving under Pedro Arias de Ávila in Central America and under Francisco Pizarro in Peru,...

Claude Lorrain

(Encyclopedia)Claude Lorrain zhəlāˈ [key], 1600–1682, French painter, b. Lorraine. Claude was the foremost landscape painter of his time. In Rome at about 12 years of age he was employed as a pastry cook for t...

Pelli, César

(Encyclopedia)Pelli, César, 1926–2019, American architect, b. Tucumán, Argentina. Pelli graduated (1949) from the Univ. of Tucumán, immigrated (1952) to the United States, and subsequently attended (1952–54)...

Santo Domingo, former Spanish colony

(Encyclopedia)Santo Domingo sänˈtō dōmēngˈgō [key], former Spanish colony on the island of Hispaniola. The name has also been used for the Dominican Republic, and in early days it applied to Haiti. Columbus ...