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Fath Ali Shah

(Encyclopedia)Fath Ali Shah fäth älēˈ shäˈ, fät [key], also spelled Feth Ali Shah, 1762–1834, shah of Persia (1797–1834), nephew and successor of Aga Muhammad Khan, founder of the Qajar dynasty. Most of ...

Silicon Valley

(Encyclopedia)Silicon Valley, an industrial region, approximately 20 mi (32 km) long, in the Santa Clara Valley between Palo Alto and San Jose, mainly in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, W central Calif., where ...

Vista

(Encyclopedia)Vista vĭsˈtə [key], uninc. city (1990 pop. 71,872), San Diego co., SW Calif., near the Pacific coast, in an agricultural and resort area; inc. 1963. Its manufactures include metal and plastic produ...

Fages, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Fages, Pedro pāˈᵺrō fäˈhās [key], fl. 1767–96, Spanish governor of Alta California (1782–91). In Mexico in 1767, he was ordered to accompany the expedition of Gaspar de Portolá, which est...

Pérez, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Pérez, Juan hwän pāˈrāth [key], d. 1774, Spanish colonial naval officer, explorer on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. In 1774 he commanded a fleet sent by the Spanish viceroy to investigate Ru...

Navajo, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Navajo or Navaho both: näˈvəhō [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages). A migration from the No...

Central Valley

(Encyclopedia)Central Valley, great trough of central Calif., c.450 mi (720 km) long and c.50 mi (80 km) wide, between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges. The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers drain much of the...

Louis XIV, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XIV, 1638–1715, king of France (1643–1715), son and successor of King Louis XIII. Although he had a series of mistresses, Louis XIV finally came under the influence of Mme de Maintenon, wh...

Crespi, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Crespi, Juan krāsˈpē [key], 1721–82, Spanish explorer in the Southwest, a Franciscan. He came to America in 1749, and in 1767 he went to the peninsula of California in charge of Mission Purísim...

Alamo, the

(Encyclopedia)Alamo, the ălˈəmōˌ [key] [Span.,=cottonwood], building in San Antonio, Tex., “the cradle of Texas liberty.” Built as a chapel after 1744, it is all that remains of the mission of San Antonio ...