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Vaca, Cabeza de

(Encyclopedia)Vaca, Cabeza de: see Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez. ...

Val-de-Marne

(Encyclopedia)Val-de-Marne väl-də-märn [key], department (1990 pop. 1,219,300), N central France, adjoining Paris on the southeast. Créteil is the capital. ...

Valdés, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Valdés, Juan de hwän ᵺā väldāsˈ [key], c.1500–1540, Spanish reformer, b. Cuenca. Suspected by the Inquisition, he went soon after 1530 to Naples, where he became the center of a circle of me...

Valdivia, Pedro de

(Encyclopedia)Valdivia, Pedro de pāˈdhrō dā väldēˈvyä [key], c.1500–1554, Spanish conquistador, conqueror of Chile. One of Francisco Pizarro's best officers in the conquest of Peru, educated, energetic, s...

Acuña, Cristóbal de

(Encyclopedia)Acuña, Cristóbal de krēstōˈbäl dā ako͞oˈnyä [key], 1597–1676?, Spanish Jesuit missionary and explorer in South America, rector of the Jesuit college at Cuenca, Ecuador. In 1638 he was sent...

Sá, Mem de

(Encyclopedia)Sá, Mem de māN dĭ sä [key], d. 1572, Portuguese colonial official, governor-general of Brazil (1557?–1572). He drove (1567) the French colony from Guanabara Bay and founded the city of Rio de Ja...

Acuña, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Acuña, Juan de hwän dā ako͞oˈnyä [key], 1658?–1734, Spanish-American administrator, viceroy of New Spain (1722–34), marqués de Casa Fuerte, b. Lima, Peru. After a distinguished career in Sp...

Sacrobosco, Johannes de

(Encyclopedia)Sacrobosco, Johannes de yōhänˈəs də săkrōbŏsˈkō [key], or John of Hollywood, c.1200–1256, English mathematician and astronomer. He wrote several widely read and influential books: Algorism...

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