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Piedras Negras, ancient city, Guatemala

(Encyclopedia)Piedras Negras pyāˈᵺräs nāˈgräs [key] [Span.,=black stones], ruined city of the Classic era of the Maya, NW Petén, Guatemala, in the Usumacinta valley. Reaching a peak of sculptural achieveme...

Lam, Carrie

(Encyclopedia)Lam, Carrie (Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor), 1957–, Hong Kong political leader. She served in the treasury bureau before becoming director of social welfare (2000–3), permanent secretary for housing ...

Chichén Itzá

(Encyclopedia)Chichén Itzá chēchānˈ ētsäˈ [key], city of the ancient Maya, central Yucatán, Mexico. It was founded around two large cenotes, or natural wells. According to one system of dating, it was foun...

Linxia

(Encyclopedia)Linxia or Linsia both: lĭn-shēä [key], city (1994 est. pop. 88,200), SE Gansu prov., China. The city is a gateway to the Tibetan areas near the Qinghai and Sichuan borders. It trades in hides and w...

Quiché

(Encyclopedia)Quiché kēchāˈ [key], indigenous peoples of Mayan linguistic stock, in the western highlands of Guatemala; most important group of the ancient southern Maya. The largest of the contemporary native ...

Itzá

(Encyclopedia)Itzá ētsäˈ [key], Maya of Yucatán (Mexico) and Petén (Guatemala). Probable founders of Chichén Itzá, which they occupied at various times from c.514 to 1194, they moved (1450?) S from Campeche...

pre-Columbian art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)pre-Columbian art and architecture, works of art and structures created in Central and South America before the arrival of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. For many years the regions that are now ...

Montejo, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Montejo, Francisco de fränthēsˈkō dā mōntāˈhō [key], c.1479–c.1548, Spanish conquistador. He served in Cuba under Diego Velásquez, later commanded a vessel in the expedition of Juan de Gri...

Tsang, Donald Yam-kuen

(Encyclopedia)Tsang, Donald Yam-kuen, 1944–, Hong Kong government official and political leader. He joined the Hong Kong colonial civil service in 1967, and served in a variety of posts concerned with the economy...

Ríos Montt, José Efraín

(Encyclopedia)Ríos Montt, José Efraín hōsāˈ ĕfräēnˈ rēˈōs mōnt [key], 1926–2018, Guatemalan general and politician. A career army officer, he became head of the Guatamalan army in 1970. As a Christi...