Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Walker, William, 1824–60, American filibuster in Nicaragua, b. Nashville, Tenn. Walker, a qualified doctor, a lawyer, and a journalist by the time he was 24, sought a more adventurous career. After ...

(Encyclopedia) Weinberger, Caspar Willard wīnˈbûrgər [key], 1917–2006, U.S. government official, U.S. secretary of defense (1981–87), b. San Francisco, grad. Harvard (1938), Harvard Law School (1941). After ...

(Encyclopedia) Quintana Roo kēntäˈnä rōˈō [key], state (1990 pop. 493,277), 19,630 sq mi (50,842 sq km), SE Mexico, on the Caribbean. Chetumal is the capital. Occupying most of the eastern part of the Yucatá...

(Encyclopedia) Toledo Manrique, Alejandro, 1946–, Peruvian political leader, president of Peru (2001–6). Toledo, who has indigenous Andean roots, was born into poverty in rural Peru and grew up in the port city ...

(Encyclopedia) Tupinambá, a people living in the eastern lowland area of South America, related to the Tupí of the Rio São Francisco and the Guaraní of Paraguay and adjacent portions of Brazil and Argentina. Alt...

(Encyclopedia) Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832–1918, American publisher and historian, b. Granville, Ohio. Bancroft began his career as a bookseller in San Francisco in 1852. Soon he had his own firm, the largest book...

(Encyclopedia) San Jose sănəzāˈ, săn hōzāˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. Along with San Francisco and Oakland the city comprises the fou...

(Encyclopedia) Serra, Richard, 1939–, American sculptor, b. San Francisco; grad. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (B.A., 1961), Yale (B.F.A., M.F.A., 1974). Many of his early works (1960s) are cast in rubber or ...

(Encyclopedia) Alvarez, Luis Walter, 1911–88, American physicist, b. San Francisco, grad. Univ. of Chicago, 1932, Ph.D. 1936. He was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of a large number of r...

(Encyclopedia) Gila hēˈlə [key], river, 630 mi (1,014 km) long, rising in the mountains of W N.Mex. and flowing W across Ariz. to the Colorado River at Yuma, Ariz.; the San Francisco River is its main tributary. ...