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Angelou, Maya

(Encyclopedia)Angelou, Maya mīˈə ănˈjəlo͞o [key], 1928–2014, African-American writer and performer, b. St. Louis, Mo., as Marguerite Johnson. She toured Europe and Africa in the musical Porgy and Bess (195...

Plisetskaya, Maya

(Encyclopedia)Plisetskaya, Maya mäˈyä plēsĕtsˈkäyä [key], 1925–2015, Russian dancer. Pliesetskaya became a soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on graduating from its school in 1943. She soon gained...

Lin, Maya Ying

(Encyclopedia)Lin, Maya Ying mīˈə [key], 1959–, American architect and sculptor, b. Athens, Ohio. Lin's work is known for its visual poetry and sensitive mingling of highly abstract form with meaning. From an ...

maya, in Hinduism

(Encyclopedia)maya mäˈyä [key], in Hinduism, term used in the Veda to mean magic or supernatural power. In Mahayana Buddhism it acquires the meaning of illusion or unreality. The term is pivotal in the Vedanta s...

Coe, Michael Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Coe, Michael Douglas, 1929–2019, American anthropologist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Harvard, 1959. Coe taught at Yale from 1960, becoming Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology in 1963 (emeritu...

Copán

(Encyclopedia)Copán kōpänˈ [key], ruined city of the Maya, W Honduras, in a small river valley of the same name. Copán is noted for its fine sculptured stele and majestic architecture. The ruins were the site ...

Cancún

(Encyclopedia)Cancún känko͝on [key], city (2021 metro area est.pop. 971,798, Quintana Roo state, SE Mexi...

Bonampak

(Encyclopedia)Bonampak bōnämpäkˈ [key], ruined city of the Late Classic period of the Maya, close to Tuxtla, in Chiapas, S Mexico. Discovered in 1946, it consists of a group of temples, one of which is remarkab...

Palenque

(Encyclopedia)Palenque pälāngˈkĕ [key], ancient city of the Maya in Chiapas, S Mexico, in the Usumacinta Valley. Its architectural elegance, adapted to tropical and topographical conditions, was a high point in...

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