taro: see arum.

Querétaro de Arteaga, state (1990 pop. 1,061,236), 4,432 sq mi (11,479 sq km), central Mexico. The city of Querétaro is the capital. With mountains in the north and valleys and plains in the south, the state raises a variety of agricultural products, especially grains. Extensive pasturelands make livestock breeding important. The state is famous for its opals; silver, iron, copper, and mercury are also mined. Although Querétaro is developing an industrialized economy, most manufacturing remains concentrated in the capital. The territory was taken from the Chichimecs by the Spanish in 1531, but colonization did not begin until 1550. Later included in the intendancy of Guanajuato, Querétaro became a separate state in 1824.

Querétaro, officially Santiago de Querétaro, city (1990 pop. 385,503) and capital of Querétaro de Arteaga state, central Mexico. It is a distribution center with industries producing machinery and farm implements; the city's cotton mills are among the most important in Mexico. Querétaro is also a popular tourist center. An Aztec city, Querétaro was conquered by the Spanish in 1531. The conspiracy (1810) under Hidalgo y Costilla and Allende that led to the revolution against Spain was planned there. The city was the temporary capital of Mexico when the United States invaded (1847) during the Mexican War. In 1867, Emperor Maximilian and his generals Miguel Miramon and Tomás Mejia were forced to surrender and then taken out and shot on a hill outside the city. In 1917 the Mexican Constitution was written in Querétaro, which retains numerous colonial landmarks and is famous for its 18th-century aqueduct.

Katsura, Taro, 1847-1913, Japanese statesman. A Choshu clansman, and a protégé of Aritomo Yamagata, he served as war minister, then (1901-6) as prime minister. During that administration, with the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902 and the defeat (1904-5) of Russia, Japan emerged as the major power in East Asia and gained effective control over Korea. In the Taft-Katsura agreement of 1905, the United States recognized that control. In 1906, Katsura resigned because of public dissatisfaction with the Portsmouth Treaty. As prime minister again (1908-11), he annexed Korea and engaged in a struggle with the Diet over expansion of the military budget. His reappointment as prime minister in 1912, after the overthrow of Kimmochi Saionji for failure to approve increased army spending, was widely interpreted as an example of genro manipulation. The major parliamentary parties united in opposition, organized mass demonstrations, and passed a nonconfidence motion. Katsura lost support of the genro when he attempted to form a new party and sought imperial intervention to rescind the nonconfidence motion. He was forced to resign.

Herbaceous plant (Colocasia esculenta) of the arum family, probably native to Southeast Asia and taken to the Pacific islands. It is a staple crop cultivated for its large, starchy, spherical tubers, which, though poisonous raw, become edible with heating. They are consumed as a cooked vegetable or are made into puddings, breads, or Polynesian poi (a thin, pasty, highly digestible mass of fermented taro starch). Poi is a staple food in Hawaii. The large leaves (also poisonous raw) of the taro are commonly eaten stewed.

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