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Yucatán, peninsula, North America

(Encyclopedia)Yucatán yo͞okətănˈ [key], peninsula, c.70,000 sq mi (181,300 sq km), mostly in SE Mexico, separating the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico. It comprises the states of Yucatán, Campeche, and ...

Fernández de Córdoba, Francisco, d. 1518?, Spanish explorer in Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Fernández de Córdoba, Francisco fränthēsˈkō fārnänˈdāth dā kōrˈdōbä [key], d. 1518?, Spanish explorer in Mexico. Sailing from Cuba on a slave hunt, he discovered Yucatán in 1517. He di...

Shakti

(Encyclopedia)Shakti shŭkˈtē [key] [Skt.,=power], in Hinduism, name given to the female consorts of male deities. The Shakti personifies the dynamic, manifesting energy that creates the universe, while the male ...

Petén

(Encyclopedia)Petén pātānˈ [key], region, c.15,000 sq mi (38,850 sq km), N Guatemala. A humid expanse of dense, tropical hardwood forests interrupted by savannas and crisscrossed by ranges of hills, it is relat...

Jilin, city, China

(Encyclopedia)Jilin kēˈrĭnˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,117,800), central Jilin prov., China, on the Songhua River. It is a shipping port, a railroad junction, and a commercial and industrial center, with lar...

Guilin

(Encyclopedia)Guilin or Kweilin both: gwā-lĭnˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 707,200), N Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, S China, on the Li River. It is a transportation center, with connections by rail, river, ...

Aldan, river, Russia

(Encyclopedia)Aldan, river, c.1,400 mi (2,250 km) long, rising in the Stanovoy Range, Sakha Republic, SE Siberian Russia. It flows north and east, past Tommot and around the Aldan Plateau, before flowing generally ...

Wister, Owen

(Encyclopedia)Wister, Owen wĭsˈtər [key], 1860–1938, American author, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1882; LL.B., 1888). Trips to the West for his health gave him material for his short stories and for ...

Wu P'ei-fu

(Encyclopedia)Wu P'ei-fu wo͞o pāˈ-fo͞o [key], 1874–1939, Chinese general and political leader. He had a distinguished military career under the Ch'ing dynasty and was an important figure in the republic. For ...

Tsai Ing-wen

(Encyclopedia)Tsai Ing-wen tsī ēng-wŭn [key], 1956–, Taiwanese political leader, president of Taiwan (2016–), b. Pingtung, grad. National Taiwan Univ. (LL.B., 1978), Cornell (LL.M., 1980), London School of E...