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puma

(Encyclopedia)puma ko͞oˈgər [key], New World member of the cat family, Puma concolor. Also known as mountain lion, catamount, panther, and painter, it ranges from S British Columbia to the southern tip of South ...

Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the

(Encyclopedia)Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the, study of the origins of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Archaeologists believe humans had entered and occupied much of the Americas by the end of the...

Leguía, Augusto Bernardino

(Encyclopedia)Leguía, Augusto Bernardino ougo͞osˈtō bārnärdēˈnō lāgēˈä [key], 1863–1932, president of Peru (1908–12, 1919–30). In his second administration Leguía promulgated a new constitution ...

Heyerdahl, Thor

(Encyclopedia)Heyerdahl, Thor hāˈərdälˌ, hīˈ– [key], 1914–2002, Norwegian explorer and anthropologist, b. Larvik. He carried out research in the Marquesas Islands in 1937–38 and studied the indigenous ...

Catawba, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Catawba kətôˈbə [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They have for centuries occupied a r...

Cherokee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Cherokee chĕrˈəkē [key], largest Native American group in the United States. Formerly the largest and most important tribe in the Southeast, they occupied mountain areas of North and South Carolin...

Chiclayo

(Encyclopedia)Chiclayo chēkläˈyō [key], city, capital of Lambayeque dept., NW Peru. On the coastal desert ...

Hirsch, Maurice, baron de

(Encyclopedia)Hirsch, Maurice, baron de mōrēsˈ bärôNˈ də hĭrsh [key], 1831–96, German Jewish financier and philanthropist. The benefactor of numerous organizations and causes, his most ambitious project w...

Pizarro, Francisco

(Encyclopedia)Pizarro, Francisco pĭzäˈrō, Span. fränthēsˈkō pēthärˈrō [key], c.1476–1541, Spanish conquistador, conqueror of Peru. Born in Trujillo, he was an illegitimate son of a Spanish gentleman a...

Aymara

(Encyclopedia)Aymara īmäräˈ [key], Native South Americans inhabiting the Lake Titicaca basin in Peru and Bolivia. The originators of the great culture represented by the ruins of Tiahuanaco were very likely Aym...