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stamp tax

(Encyclopedia)stamp tax, method of collecting duties on certain transactions by means of a validating stamp attached to the taxable instrument, which may be a judicial act, a commercial document, a transfer of prop...

Chorotega

(Encyclopedia)Chorotega chōrōtāˈgä [key], aboriginal people and language group of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Little is known of the Chorotega, primarily beause of the absence of extensive ruins. Cont...

Tupac Amaru

(Encyclopedia)Tupac Amaru to͞opäkˈ ämäˈro͞o [key], 1742?–1781, leader of indigenous peoples in the viceroyalty of Peru, baptized José Gabriel Condorcanqui. A man of some education and of high moral charac...

Gasca, Pedro de la

(Encyclopedia)Gasca, Pedro de la pāˈᵺrō ᵺā lä gäsˈkä [key], c.1485–1567?, Spanish colonial administrator. A priest as well as a lawyer, he was selected by Charles V to end the anarchy prevailing in Pe...

Pecos National Historical Park

(Encyclopedia)Pecos National Historical Park, 6,671 acres (2,702 hectares), N New Mexico; est. as a national monument 1965, designated a national historical park 1990. The park contains the remains of the Pecos pue...

Foster, Norman Robert, Baron Foster of Thames Bank

(Encyclopedia)Foster, Norman Robert, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, 1935–, British architect, b. Manchester, grad. Manchester Univ. school of architecture (1961), Yale school of architecture (M.A., 1962). Foster an...

Montañes, Juan Martínez

(Encyclopedia)Montañes, Juan Martínez hwän märtēˈnĕth mōntäˈnyās [key], c.1568–1649, Spanish sculptor. He was known for his polychrome figures in wood. Most of his work was done for the churches and co...

Portobelo

(Encyclopedia)Portobelo, Porto Bello pwārˈtō bāˈyō [key], town, central Panama, on the Caribbean Sea. The site, an excellent harbor, was visited by Columbus. The town was founded in 1597. A thriving colonial...

stalactite ornament

(Encyclopedia)stalactite ornament, type of ornament characteristic of Islamic architecture. Generally executed in wood or in plaster over a wood or brick base, it consists of little vertical polygonal or curved nic...

Aztec

(Encyclopedia)Aztec ăzˈtĕkˌ [key], Indian people dominating central Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. Their language belonged to the Nahuatlan subfamily of Uto-Aztecan languages. They arrived in the V...