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Penitentes

(Encyclopedia)Penitentes pĕnĭtĕnˈtēz [key], secret lay order in the U.S. Southwest, particularly New Mexico, noted for flagellating rites during Holy Week. It arose from the third order of the Franciscans and ...

Iturbide, Agustín de

(Encyclopedia)Iturbide, Agustín de ägo͞ostēnˈ dā ēto͞orbēˈᵺā [key], 1783–1824, Mexican revolutionist, emperor of Mexico (1822–23). An officer in the royalist army, he was sympathetic to independenc...

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...

Katzimo

(Encyclopedia)Katzimo, New Mexico: see Enchanted Mesa. ...

Wallace, Lew

(Encyclopedia)Wallace, Lew (Lewis Wallace), 1827–1905, American novelist and diplomat, b. Brookville, Ind. He served in both the Mexican and Civil wars. After returning to his law practice in Indiana, he became g...

Lamy, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Lamy, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ lämēˈ [key], 1814–88, Roman Catholic archbishop in the U.S. Southwest, b. France. He was ordained in 1838 and, after doing missionary work in S Ohio, was sent...

Continental Divide

(Encyclopedia)Continental Divide, the “backbone” of a continent. In North America, from N Alaska to New Mexico, it moves along the crest of the Rocky Mts., which separates streams with outlets to the west of th...

molybdenite

(Encyclopedia)molybdenite məlĭbˈdənīt, mō– [key], a mineral, molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, blue-gray in color, with a metallic luster and greasy feel. It occurs in crystals of the hexagonal system but more co...

Maximilian, 1832–67, emperor of Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Maximilian, 1832–67, emperor of Mexico (1864–67). As the Austrian archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, he was denied a share in the imperial government by his reactionary brother, Emperor Francis Joseph...

Las Cruces

(Encyclopedia)Las Cruces läs kro͞oˈsĭs [key], city (1990 pop. 62,126), seat of Dona Ana co., SW N.Mex., on the Rio Grande, in a farm area irrigated by the Elephant Butte system; founded 1848, inc. 1907. It is t...