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L'Amour, Louis ... La Roche, Sophie von
L'Amour, Louis
American writer, best-selling author of more than 100 books, most of which were formula westerns that were highly popular because of their well-researched portrayals of frontier life.
L'Aquila
city, capital of Abruzzi region, central Italy. It is situated on a hill above the Aterno River, northeast of Rome. The area was settled by the Sabini, an ancient Italic ...
L'Enfant, Pierre-Charles
French-born American engineer, architect, and urban designer who designed the basic plan for Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States.
L'Engle, Madeleine
American author of imaginative juvenile literature that was often concerned with such themes as the conflict of good and evil, the nature of God, individual responsibility, and family life.
L'Estrange, Sir Roger
one of the earliest of English journalists and pamphleteers, an ardent supporter of the Royalist cause during the English Civil Wars and Commonwealth period (1649-60), who was eventually rewarded for ...
L'Hospital, Michel de
statesman, lawyer, and humanist who, as chancellor of France from 1560 to 1568, was instrumental in the adoption by the French government of a policy of toleration toward the Huguenots.
L'Obel, Matthias de
French physician and botanist whose Stirpium adversaria nova (1570; written in collaboration with Pierre Pena) was a milestone in modern botany. It argued that botany and medicine must be based ...
La Baule-Escoublac
fashionable resort, Loire-Atlantique departement, Bretagne region, France. It lies along the Atlantic coast near the mouth of the Loire River, west of Saint-Nazaire. Facing south and protected from the north ...
La Bourdonnais, Bertrand-Francois Mahe, Count de
French naval commander who played an important part in the struggle between the French and the British for control of India.
La Brea Tar Pits
tar (Spanish brea) pits, in Hancock Park (Rancho La Brea), Los Angeles, California, U.S. The area was the site of "pitch springs" oozing crude oil that was ...
La Bruyere, Jean de
French satiric moralist who is best known for one work, Les Caracteres de Theophraste traduits du grec avec Les Caracteres ou les moeurs de ce siecle (1688; ...
La Calprenede, Gaultier de Coste, Seigneur de
author of sentimental, adventurous, pseudohistorical romances that were immensely popular in 17th-century France. To this rambling and diffuse genre he imparted vigour through swift-moving plots.
La Ceiba
city, northern Honduras. It lies along the Gulf of Honduras, in a lush, hot valley at the foot of 7,989-foot (2,435-metre) Mount Bonito.
La Chalotais, Louis-Rene de Caradeuc de
French magistrate who led the Breton Parlement (high court of justice) in a protracted legal battle against the authority of the government of King Louis XV. The struggle resulted in ...
La Chapelle-aux-Saints
cave site near the village of La Chapelle-aux-Saints in central France where the bones of an adult Neanderthal male were found in 1908. Studies of the remains published in 1911-13 ...
La Chaussee, Pierre-Claude Nivelle de
French playwright who created the comedie larmoyante ("tearful comedy"), a verse-drama form merging tearful, sentimental scenes with an invariably happy ending. These sentimental comedies, which were precursors of Denis Diderot's ...
La Chetardie, Jacques-Joachim Trotti, Marquis de
French officer and diplomat who helped raise the princess Elizabeth to the throne of Russia.
La Condamine, Charles-Marie de
French naturalist and mathematician who accomplished the first scientific exploration of the Amazon River.
La Crosse
city, seat (1851) of La Crosse county, western Wisconsin, U.S. It lies along the Mississippi River at the influx of the La Crosse River, about 130 miles (210 km) northwest ...
La Farge, John
American painter, muralist, and stained-glass designer.
La Farge, Oliver
American anthropologist, short-story writer, and novelist who acted as a spokesman for the American Indian through his political actions and his fiction.
La Farina, Giuseppe
Italian revolutionary, writer, and leader and historian of the Risorgimento.
La Fayette, Gilbert Motier de
marshal of France during the Hundred Years' War and noted adviser to King Charles VII.
La Fayette, Marie-Madeleine, comtesse de
French writer whose La Princesse de Cleves is a landmark of French fiction.
La Ferrassie
paleoanthropological site in the Dordogne region of France where Neanderthal fossils were found in a rock shelter between 1909 and 1921. Though the first report was made in 1934, investigation ...
La Flesche, Francis
U.S. ethnologist and champion of the rights of American Indians who wrote a book of general literary interest about his experiences as a student in a mission school in the ...
La Flesche, Susette
Native American writer, lecturer, and activist in the cause of American Indian rights.
La Follette, Robert M
U.S. leader of the Progressive Movement, who as governor of Wisconsin (1901-06) and U.S. senator (1906-25) was noted for his support of reform legislation. He was the unsuccessful presidential candidate ...
La Fontaine
also called Mlle De Lafontaine French ballerina and the first woman professional ballet dancer.
La Fontaine, Jean de
poet whose Fables rank among the greatest masterpieces of French literature.
La Fosse, Charles de
painter whose decorative historical and allegorical murals, while continuing a variant of the stately French Baroque manner of the 17th century, began to develop a lighter, more brightly coloured style ...
La Fresnaye, Roger de
French painter who synthesized lyrical colour with the geometric simplifications of Cubism.
La Galissonniere, Roland-Michel Barrin, marquis de
mariner and commandant general of New France.
La Grande
city, seat (1905) of Union county, northeastern Oregon, U.S., between the Blue Mountains (west) and Wallowa Mountains (east), on the Grande Ronde River. The region was once roamed by Umatilla ...
La Grande River
river in Nord-du-Quebec region, north-central Quebec province, Canada. Rising from Nichicun Lake in the Otish Mountains of central Quebec, it descends 1,737 feet (529 m) in its westward journey to ...
La Gruyere
region and southernmost district of Fribourg canton, western Switzerland. La Gruyere lies along the middle reach of La Sarine (Saane) River, on the edge of the Vaudois uplands and the ...
La Guaira
city, northern distrito federal ("federal district"), northern Venezuela. One of the nation's leading seaports, La Guaira lies in the narrow, arid coastal zone along the Caribbean at the foot of ...
La Guardia, Fiorello H.
American politician and lawyer who served three terms (1933-45) as mayor of New York City.
La Guma, Alex
black novelist of South Africa in the 1960s whose characteristically brief works (e.g., A Walk in the Night [1962], The Stone-Country [1965], and In the Fog of the Season's End ...
La Habana
provincia, west-central Cuba, bounded on the north by the Straits of Florida and by Ciudad de la Habana provincia; on the south by the Gulf of Batabano, an inlet of ...
La Habra
city, Orange county, southern California, U.S. The city lies just north of Fullerton and southeast of Los Angeles. Its name derives from the Spanish abra ("pass"), with ...
La Harpe, Frederic-Cesar de
Swiss political leader and Vaudois patriot, tutor and confidant to Tsar Alexander I of Russia and a central figure in the creation of the Helvetic Republic (1798).
La Harpe, Jean-Francois de
critic and unsuccessful playwright who wrote severe and provocative criticisms and histories of French literature.
La Hire, Laurent de
French Baroque classical painter whose best work is marked by gravity, simplicity, and dignity.
La Hontan, Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce, baron de
French soldier and writer who explored parts of what are now Canada and the United States and who prepared valuable accounts of his travels in the New World.
La Junta
city, seat (1889) of Otero county, southeastern Colorado, U.S. It lies along the Arkansas River at the northern edge of the Comanche National Grassland, at an elevation of 4,052 feet ...
La Libertad
city, southwestern El Salvador. Its open roadstead port as well as its location south of San Salvador encouraged La Libertad's development in the 19th century as a shipping outlet for ...
La Libertad
departamento (formed 1821) and region, northern Peru. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Cordillera Central of the Andes in the east. The northward-flowing Maranon River ...
La Linea
town, Cadiz provincia, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Andalusia, southwestern Spain. It lies along the Bay of Gibraltar, between San Roque and the British colony of Gibraltar. The ...
La Louvire
town, Hainaut province, southwestern Belgium, on the Central Canal, about 11 miles (17 km) east of Mons. It has been a centre of coal mining since the 14th century. La ...
La Mancha
barren, elevated plateau (2,000 ft [610 m]) of central Spain, stretching between the Montes (mountains) de Toledo and the western spurs of the Cerros (hills) de Cuenca, and bounded on ...
La Marche, Olivier de
Burgundian chronicler and poet who, as historian of the ducal court, was an eloquent spokesman of the chivalrous tradition.
La Marmora, Alfonso Ferrero
Italian general and statesman who, while in the service of Sardinia-Piedmont, played an important role in the Risorgimento.
La Matanza
partido (political subdivision) of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Argentina, directly southwest of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires province. The present-day partido ...
La Mettrie, Julien Offroy de
French physician and philosopher whose Materialistic interpretation of psychic phenomena laid the groundwork for future developments of behaviourism and played an important part in the history of modern Materialism.
La Mothe Le Vayer, Francois de
independent French thinker and writer who developed a philosophy of Skepticism more radical than that of Michel de Montaigne but less absolute than that of Pierre Bayle.
La Motta, Jake
American boxer and world middleweight boxing champion (1949-51) whose stamina and fierceness in the ring earned him the nickname "the Bronx Bull." Lacking finesse, he often allowed himself to take ...
La Noue, Francois de
Huguenot captain in the French Wars of Religion (1562-98), known for his exploits as a soldier and for his military and historical writings.
La Orotava
town, northern Tenerife island, Santa Cruz de Tenerife provincia (province), Canary Islands comunidad autonoma (autonomous community), Spain, just southwest of Santa Cruz de Tenerife ...
La Oroya
city, central Peru. It is situated at the junction of the Mantaro and Yauli rivers on a central plateau of the Andes Mountains, at an elevation of 12,195 feet (3,717 ...
La Palma
island, Santa Cruz de Tenerife provincia (province), in the comunidad autonoma (autonomous community) of Canary Islands, Spain. Located in the North Atlantic off the ...
La Pampa
provincia (province), central Argentina. It lies immediately west of Buenos Aires province and straddles drier sections of the Pampa (northeast) and semiarid sections of the Patagonian Desert ...
La Paz
city, administrative capital of Bolivia, west-central Bolivia, situated some 42 miles (68 km) southeast of Lake Titicaca. La Paz, which lies between 10,650 and 13,250 feet (3,250 and 4,100 metres) ...
La Paz
city, capital of the estado ("state") of Baja California Sur, northwestern Mexico. Only 33 feet (10 m) above sea level on the La Paz Bay of the Gulf of California, ...
La Paz
town, southwestern Honduras, at an elevation of 2,461 feet (750 m) above sea level in the Comayagua River valley, on the eastern flanks of the Cordillera de Montecillos. It was ...
La Perouse Strait
international waterway between the islands of Sakhalin (Russia) and Hokkaido (Japan). The strait, named after the French explorer Jean-Francois de Galaup, Count de La Perouse, separates the Sea of Okhotsk ...
La Perouse, Jean-Francois de Galaup, Count de
French navigator who conducted wide-ranging explorations in the Pacific Ocean.
La Piedad Cavadas
city, northwestern Michoacan estado ("state"), west-central Mexico. On the Lerma River, which forms the Michoacan-Guanajuato border, it is 314 miles (505 km) west-northwest of Mexico City and 119 miles (192 ...
La Plata
city, capital of Buenos Aires provincia (province), Argentina, 6 miles (9 km) inland from the southern shore of the Rio de la Plata estuary. The site was ...
La Plata River
river in east-central Puerto Rico, rising on the western slope of Mount Santa (2,963 feet [903 m]), a peak of the Sierra de Cayey. Part of the stream is impounded ...
La Revelliere-Lepeaux, Louis-Marie de
member of the French Revolutionary regime known as the Directory.
La Rioja
comunidad autonoma (autonomous community) and historical region of Spain coextensive with the north-central Spanish province of La Rioja (until 1980 called Logrono). As Logrono, the province was ...
La Rioja
provincia (province), northwestern Argentina, extending southeastward from Chile. The province's southeastern half is an arid to semiarid plain, while the northwestern section is crossed north to south ...
La Rioja
city, capital of La Rioja provincia (province), northwestern Argentina, on La Rioja River at the foot of the Velasco Mountains. Founded in 1591 by explorers for gold ...
La Rive, Auguste-Arthur de
Swiss physicist who was one of the founders of the electrochemical theory of batteries.
La Roche, Sophie von
nee Gutermann German writer whose first and most important work, Geschichte des Frauleins von Sternheim (1771; History of Lady Sophia Sternheim), was the first German novel written by a woman ...

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