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gaucho

(Encyclopedia)gaucho gouˈchō [key], cowboy of the Argentine and Uruguayan pampas (grasslands). The typical gaucho, a familiar figure in the 18th and 19th cent., was a daring, skillful horseman and plainsman. As f...

Haya de la Torre, Víctor Raúl

(Encyclopedia)Haya de la Torre, Víctor Raúl vēkˈtôr räo͞olˈ äˈyä dā lä tôˈrĕ [key], 1895–1979, Peruvian political leader, founder of the APRA party. Although he never held power and spent much of ...

Leopardi, Giacomo

(Encyclopedia)Leopardi, Giacomo jäˈkōmō lāōpärˈdē [key], 1798–1837, Italian poet and scholar, considered Italy's outstanding 19th-century poet. An intellectual prodigy, he taught himself Hebrew and ancie...

López, Francisco Solano

(Encyclopedia)López, Francisco Solano lōˈpās [key], 1826?–1870, president of Paraguay (1862–70). He was the son of Carlos Antonio López, who made him a brigadier general at 18. Appointed head of a diploma...

Laredo

(Encyclopedia)Laredo lərāˈdō [key], city (1990 pop. 122,899), seat of Webb co., S Tex., on the Rio Grande; founded 1755, inc. 1852. It is a port of entry on the U.S.-Mexican border, with a thriving export-impor...

Matta

(Encyclopedia)Matta (Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren) rōbĕrˈtō sābästyänˈ äntōnˈyō mätˈtä ĕkhärˈrĕn [key], 1911?–2002, Chilean painter who left his native country for Paris (1935) an...

Rizal, José

(Encyclopedia)Rizal, José hōsāˈ rēsälˈ [key], 1861–96, Philippine nationalist, author, poet, and physician, b. Calamba, Laguna prov. He studied at a Jesuit school in Manila, at the Univ. of Madrid (M.D., 1...

Adam, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Adam, Robert ădˈəm [key], 1728–92, and James Adam, 1730–94, Scottish architects, brothers. They designed important public and private buildings in England and Scotland and numerous interiors, p...

James, LeBron Raymone

(Encyclopedia)James, LeBron Raymone, 1984–, American basketball player, b. Akron, Ohio. The number-one draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers at age 18, “King James” has become one of the National Basketball A...

Johnson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Robert, 1911–38, African-American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, b. Hazelhurst, Miss. A sharecropper's son, he grew up absorbing the music of Delta bluesmen, learning the harmonic...