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Buena Vista, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Buena Vista, battle of, military engagement in the Mexican War, fought Feb. 22–23, 1847. The battle site was just S of Saltillo, Coahuila, in Mexico. Gen. Zachary Taylor, disobeying orders from the ...

Continental Divide

(Encyclopedia)Continental Divide, the “backbone” of a continent. In North America, from N Alaska to New Mexico, it moves along the crest of the Rocky Mts., which separates streams with outlets to the west of th...

Yuma, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Yuma yo͞oˈ mə [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Yuman branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Also known as the Quechan, they formerly...

Catawba, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Catawba kətôˈbə [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They have for centuries occupied a r...

Cherokee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Cherokee chĕrˈəkē [key], largest Native American group in the United States. Formerly the largest and most important tribe in the Southeast, they occupied mountain areas of North and South Carolin...

Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de

(Encyclopedia)Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de fränthēsˈkō väsˈkāth dā kōrōnäˈᵺō [key], c.1510–1554, Spanish explorer. He went to Mexico with Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and in 1538 was made governor...

stink bug

(Encyclopedia)stink bug, member of a large, widely distributed family (Pentatomidae) of true bugs with flattened, shield-shaped bodies. Most are 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. (6–12 mm) long. Those species whose hard upper c...

Citlaltépetl

(Encyclopedia)Citlaltépetl ōrēsäˈbä [key], peak, 18,700 ft (5,700 m) high, in the Cordillera de Anáhuas, E Mexico, on the Veracruz-Puebla border. It is the highest peak in Mexico and the third highest in Nor...

Carranza, Venustiano

(Encyclopedia)Carranza, Venustiano vāno͞ostyäˈnō käränˈsä [key], 1859–1920, Mexican political leader. While senator from Coahuila, he joined (1910) Francisco I. Madero in the revolution against Porfirio ...

Stockbridge, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Stockbridge, Native North Americans of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 17th cent. they were known as the Housatonic and were part of the Mahican ...