Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cueva, Beatriz de la bāätrēsˈ dā lä kwāˈvä [key], d. 1541, governor of Guatemala. After the death of her husband, Pedro de Alvarado, she maneuvered her own election and became the only woman ...

(Encyclopedia) Giraudoux, Jean zhäN zhērōdo͞oˈ [key], 1882–1944, French novelist and dramatist. He was a prolific writer and combined his literary work with a long and successful diplomatic career. His early ...

(Encyclopedia) Gilbert de la Porrée zhēlbĕrˈ də lä pôrāˈ [key], 1076–1154, French scholastic philosopher, b. Poitiers. He taught for 20 years at Chartres, where he was for some time chancellor. He later l...

(Encyclopedia) de La Renta, Oscar (Óscar Arístides de la Renta Fiallo) də lə räNˈtə, rĕnˈtə [key], 1932–2014, Dominican-American fashion designer, b. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He studied in Madr...

(Encyclopedia) De la Rue, Warren dĕlˈəro͞o, dĕləro͞oˈ [key], 1815–89, British scientist and inventor. Especially noted as an astronomer, he was a pioneer in celestial photography. He adapted the wet-plate ...

(Encyclopedia) Plata, Río de la rēˈō ᵺā lä pläˈtä [key], estuary, c.170 mi (270 km) long, SE South America, formed by the Paraná and Uruguay rivers. Between Argentina and Uruguay, the estuary is c.120 mi...

(Encyclopedia) Favras, Thomas de Mahy, marquis de tômäˈ də mäēˈ märkēˈ də fävräsˈ [key], 1744–90, French royalist. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, he plotted (1789) with the comte de La ...

(Encyclopedia) Cruz, Ramón de la rämōnˈ dā lä kro͞oth [key], 1731–94, Spanish dramatist. He wrote tragedies and adapted French and Italian plays, but he owes his fame to his sainetes, some 450 masterly one-...

(Encyclopedia) Arcos de la Frontera ärˈkōs dā lä frōntāˈrä [key], town, Cádiz prov., S Spain, in Andalusia, on a rocky hill above the Guadalete River. A Gothic church a...

(Encyclopedia) Vidal de la Blache, Paul pōl vēdälˈ də lä bläsh [key], French geographer, 1845–1918, the father of French human geography. He was educated at the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, and had an...