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Florida, Straits of

(Encyclopedia)Florida, Straits of, passage, c.90 mi (145 km) wide, between the Florida Keys in the north and Cuba in the south. It connects the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean. ...

Iturrigaray, José de

(Encyclopedia)Iturrigaray, José de hōsāˈ ᵺā ēto͞oˈrēgäräˈē [key], 1742–1815, Spanish colonial administrator, viceroy of New Spain (1803–8). During his rule, all of Spanish America was disturbed b...

Cretaceous period

(Encyclopedia)Cretaceous period krĭtāˈshəs [key], third and last period of the Mesozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), lasting from approximately 144 to 65 millio...

Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano

(Encyclopedia)Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano märyäˈnō pärāˈᵺās ē ärēyäˈgä [key], 1797–1849, Mexican general and president (1846). A leader of the ultraconservatives, he helped to put Antonio López ...

tortoise

(Encyclopedia)tortoise tôrˈtəs [key], common name for a terrestrial turtle, especially one of the family Testudinidae. Tortoises inhabit warm regions of all continents except Australia. They have club-shaped fee...

Gadsden Purchase

(Encyclopedia)Gadsden Purchase gădzˈdən [key], strip of land purchased (1853) by the United States from Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) had described the U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and Presiden...

waterfowl

(Encyclopedia)waterfowl, common term for members of the order Anseriformes, wild, aquatic, typically freshwater birds including ducks, geese, and screamers. In Great Britain the term is also used to designate speci...

Slim Helú, Carlos

(Encyclopedia)Slim Helú, Carlos cärˈlōs slēm hēlo͞oˈ [key], 1940–, Mexican business executive. The son of a Lebanese Maronite immigrant who became a successful merchant and real-estate investor, Slim was ...

Donoso, José

(Encyclopedia)Donoso, José hōsāˈ dōnōˈsō [key], 1924–96, Chilean novelist and short-story writer, b. Santiago. He attended Princeton and taught there and at the Univ. of Iowa (1965–67). Donoso moved to ...

Walker, William

(Encyclopedia)Walker, William, 1824–60, American filibuster in Nicaragua, b. Nashville, Tenn. Walker, a qualified doctor, a lawyer, and a journalist by the time he was 24, sought a more adventurous career. After ...