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San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge

(Encyclopedia)San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, double-decked structure, W Calif.; built 1933–36 and (eastern section replacement) 2002–13. It has a total length of 8.25 mi (13.2 km). From San Francisco it cr...

Quivira

(Encyclopedia)Quivira kēvēˈrä [key], land sought and reached by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541 and explored by later Spanish expeditions (1593 and 1601). The records do not make it entirely clear exactl...

Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y

(Encyclopedia)Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y rôᵺrēˈgāth ᵺā sēlˈvä ē vāläthˈkāth [key], 1599–1660, b. Seville. He was the most celebrated painter of the Spanish school. Velázquez's dev...

Piura

(Encyclopedia)Piura pyo͞oˈrä [key], city (1993 pop. 199,484), capital of Piura dept., NW Peru, in the irrigated Piura valley of the Peruvian coastal desert. It is the commercial center for the region's cotton, s...

Spanish literature

(Encyclopedia)Spanish literature, the literature of Spain. The Spanish civil war (1936–39) truncated the cultural evolution of the country. Many writers went into exile. Salinas, Guillén, Juan Larrea, an...

Campeche, city, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Campeche, city, capital of Campeche state, SE Mexico, on the Yucatán peninsula. It is fortified and surrounded by 18th-century walls. Although it remai...

Walsh, Bill

(Encyclopedia)Walsh, Bill (William Ernest Walsh), 1931–2007, American football coach, b. Los Angeles. He played football at San Jose State Univ. (B.A. 1955, M.A. 1959) and went into coaching, becoming an assistan...

Cordilleras

(Encyclopedia)Cordilleras kôrdĭlˈərəz, Span. kōrdēyāˈräs [key] [Span., originally=little string], general name for the entire chain of mountain systems of W North America, extending from N Alaska to Nicar...

Whittier

(Encyclopedia)Whittier, city (1990 pop. 77,671), Los Angeles co., S Calif.; in an oil area; inc. 1898. Mainly residential, it has food processing and plants that manufacture transportation equipment; machinery; cla...

Mendocino, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Mendocino, Cape mĕndəsēˈnō [key], westernmost point of California, c.200 mi (320 km) N of San Francisco in Humboldt co. It was discovered and named in 1543 in honor of Antonio de Mendoza by Barto...