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Tempe

(Encyclopedia)Tempe tĕmˈpē [key], city (1990 pop. 141,865), Maricopa co., S Ariz., in the Salt River valley, a suburb of Phoenix; inc. 1894. Its population has grown markedly since the 1970s with the expansion o...

Colorado Plateau

(Encyclopedia)Colorado Plateau, physiographic region of SW North America, c.150,000 sq mi (388,500 sq km), in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, including the “Four Corners” area. It is characterized by b...

Escalante, Silvestre Vélez de

(Encyclopedia)Escalante, Silvestre Vélez de sēlvāˈstrā vāˈlāth dā āskälänˈtā [key], fl. 1769–79, Spanish explorer in the American Southwest and Far West, a Franciscan missionary. He was in charge of...

Jeffords, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Jeffords, Thomas, 1832–1914, American pioneer, b. Chautauqua co., N.Y. He went to Arizona in 1862 as a U.S. army scout and messenger and later became a stage driver. In 1866–67, he controlled mail...

Guadalupe Hidalgo, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Guadalupe Hidalgo, Treaty of, 1848, peace treaty between the United States and Mexico that ended the Mexican War. Negotiations were carried on for the United States by Nicholas P. Trist. The treaty wa...

cardinal, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)cardinal or redbird, common name for a North American songbird of the family Fringillidae (New World finch family). In the eastern cardinal, Richmondena cardinalis, the male is bright scarlet with bla...

bilingual education

(Encyclopedia)bilingual education, the sanctioned use of more than one language in U.S. education. The Bilingual Education Act (1968), combined with a Supreme Court decision (1974) mandating help for students with ...

Bonanno, Joe

(Encyclopedia)Bonanno, Joe (Joseph Bonanno), 1905–2002, American crime boss nicknamed “Joe Bananas,” b. Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. He came to the United States illegally in 1924, settled in Brooklyn, an...

Kuiper, Gerard Peter

(Encyclopedia)Kuiper, Gerard Peter or Gerrit Pieter gĕrˈĭt pēˈtər kīˈpər [key], 1905–73, American astronomer, b. the Netherlands. Kuiper is considered to be the father of modern planetary science for his...

Supreme Court, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Supreme Court, United States, highest court of the United States, established by Article 3 of the Constitution of the United States. With the emergence of a working conservative majority,...