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skimmer

(Encyclopedia)skimmer, common name for certain sea birds resembling the related tern. Skimmers (genus Rhynchops) have long, laterally compressed bills of which the lower mandible is one fourth longer than the movab...

Manco Capac, legendary founder of the Inca dynasty of Peru

(Encyclopedia)Manco Capac mängˈkō käpäkˈ [key], legendary founder of the Inca dynasty of Peru. According to the most frequently told story, four brothers, Manco Capac, Ayar Anca, Ayar Cachi, and Ayar Uchu, an...

Devon

(Encyclopedia)Devon dĕvˈən [key], county, 2,591 sq mi (6,711 sq km), SW England. The county town is ...

quinoa

(Encyclopedia)quinoa kēnwäˈ [key], tall annual herb (Chenopodium quinoa) of the family Chenopodiaceae (goosefoot family), whose seeds have provided a staple food for peoples of the higher Andes since pre-Columbi...

Lycaonia

(Encyclopedia)Lycaonia lĭkˌāōˈnēə [key], ancient country of S Asia Minor (now in Turkey), between Galatia and Cilicia on the north and south and Phrygia and Cappadocia on the west and east. Passing successiv...

Grand Ole Opry

(Encyclopedia)Grand Ole Opry, weekly American radio program featuring live country and western music. The nation's oldest continuous radio sho...

Huayna Capac

(Encyclopedia)Huayna Capac wīˈnä käˈpäk [key], d. 1525, Inca of Peru, last of the great emperors. The Inca empire reached its greatest extent and power under his rule, but disruptive forces were already at wo...

Hawkins, Sir Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hawkins, Sir Richard, 1562?–1622, English admiral, son of Sir John Hawkins. He served under Sir Francis Drake in the 1585–86 expedition to the West Indies, commanded the Swallow in the defeat of t...

Fujimori, Keiko

(Encyclopedia)Fujimori, Keiko (Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi), 1975–, Peruvian political leader, daughter of President Alberto Fujimori. She attended Boston Univ. and Columbia Business School, then served in the ...

Janssen, Pierre Jules César

(Encyclopedia)Janssen, Pierre Jules César pyĕr zhül sāzärˈ zhäNsĕnˈ [key], 1824–1907, French astronomer. In 1857–58, in Peru, he worked on the determination of the magnetic equator; in the Azores (1867...