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Veracruz, city, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Veracruz, city (1990 pop. 303,152), Veracruz state, E central Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico. Rivaling Tampico as the country's main port, it is also the commercial and industrial center of an importan...

Calles, Plutarco Elías

(Encyclopedia)Calles, Plutarco Elías plo͞otärˈkō ālēˈäs käˈyās [key], 1877–1945, Mexican statesman, president (1924–28). In 1913 he left schoolteaching to fight with Álvaro Obregón and Venustiano ...

Mitre, Bartolomé

(Encyclopedia)Mitre, Bartolomé bärˌtōlōmāˈ mēˈtrā [key], 1821–1906, Argentine statesman, general, and author, president of the republic (1862–68). An opponent of Juan Manuel de Rosas, he was forced in...

Pedro II

(Encyclopedia)Pedro II (Dom Pedro II de Alcântara), 1825–91, emperor of Brazil (1831–89). At the age of five, he succeeded under a regency when his father, Pedro I, abdicated. He was declared of age in 1840. P...

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...

Urquiza, Justo José de

(Encyclopedia)Urquiza, Justo José de ho͞oˈstō hōsāˈ ᵺā o͞orkēˈsä [key], 1801–70, Argentine general and politician, president of the confederation (1854–60). As the caudillo of Entre Ríos prov., h...

Portuguese literature

(Encyclopedia)Portuguese literature, writings in Portuguese. The literature of Brazil is considered separately (see Brazilian literature). The modern period in Portuguese letters dates from the establishment o...

Menem, Carlos Saúl

(Encyclopedia)Menem, Carlos Saúl kärˈlōs säo͞olˈ māˈnĕm [key], 1930–2021, president of ...

helicopter

(Encyclopedia)helicopter, type of aircraft in which lift is obtained by means of one or more power-driven horizontal propellers called rotors. When the rotor of a helicopter turns it produces reaction torque which ...

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...