Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Manchuria ... Manganelli, Giorgio

Manchuria: historical region of northeastern China. Strictly speaking, it consists of the modern provinces (sheng) of Liaoning (south), Kirin (central), and Heilungkiang (north); often, however, the northeastern portion of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also is included. Manchuria is bounded by ...
Mancini, Pasquale Stanislao: leader of the Risorgimento in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, who played a prominent role in the government of united Italy.
Mandaeanism: (from Mandaean mandayya, "having knowledge"), ancient Middle Eastern religion still surviving in Iraq and Khuzistan (southwest Iran). The religion is usually treated as a Gnostic sect; it resembles Manichaeism in some respects. Whereas most scholars date the beginnings of Mandaeanism ...
mandala: ("circle"), in Hindu and Buddhist Tantrism, a symbolic diagram used in the performance of sacred rites and as an instrument of meditation. The mandala is basically a representation of the universe, a consecrated area that serves as a receptacle for ...
Mandalay: city, north-central Myanmar (Burma), the second largest in the country (after Yangon [Rangoon]). Located on the Irrawaddy River, it lies at the centre of mainland Myanmar and is the focus of regional communications and trade and transportation routes.
Mandalgovi: town, central Mongolian People's Republic. The town is located on the transition zone of scattered bunch grass of the great Gobi (desert) about 186 miles (300 km) south of Ulaanbaatar, the national capital. The area's economy is dominated by animal ...
mandamus: originally a formal writ issued by the English crown commanding an official to perform a specific act within the duty of his office. It later became a judicial writ issued from the Court of Queen's Bench, in the name of ...
Mandan: city, seat (1881) of Morton county, south-central North Dakota, U.S. It lies across the Missouri River from Bismarck, the state capital. The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through the area in 1804-05. The settlement was established in 1873 with the ...
Mandan: North American Plains Indian people of Siouan linguistic stock who lived along the Missouri River between the Heart and the Little Missouri rivers. They were linguistically related to the Winnebago, and a vague tradition suggested that they had once lived ...
Mandara Mountains: volcanic range extending about 120 miles (193 km) along the northern part of the Nigeria-Cameroon border from the Benue River (south) to Mora, Cameroon (north). The mountains rise to more than 3,500 feet (1,100 m) above sea level. During the ...
mandarin: in imperial China, a public official of any of nine grades or classes that were filled by individuals from the ranks of lesser officeholders who passed examinations in Chinese literary classics. (The word comes through the Portuguese mandarim from Malay ...
Mandarin language: the most widely spoken form of Chinese. Mandarin Chinese is spoken in all of China north of the Yangtze River and in much of the rest of the country and is the native language of two-thirds of the population.
Mandarin porcelain: ware produced in China for export in the late 18th century. It is called Mandarin because of the groups of figures in mandarin dress that appear in the decorative panels-painted mainly in gold, red, and rose pink and framed in ...
Mandasor: city, northwestern Madhya Pradesh state, west-central India. The city lies along the Sau River, a tributary of the Chambal. Mandasor is of considerable antiquity. Just southeast lie monolithic stone pillars with inscriptions referring to the erection of a sun temple ...
mandate: an authorization granted by the League of Nations to a member nation to govern a former German or Turkish colony. The territory was called a mandated territory, or mandate.
Mandaue: city, east-central Cebu island, Philippines. It lies along the coast of the Camotes Sea just northeast of the city of Cebu, which it serves as an industrial suburb. Mandaue guards the northern entrance to Cebu harbour opposite Mactan Island. It ...
Mande: , group of peoples of western Africa, whose various Mande languages form a branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Mande are located primarily on the savanna plateau of the western Sudan, although small groups of Mande origin, whose members ...
Mande languages: a branch of the Niger-Congo language family comprising 40 languages spoken by some 20 million people in a more or less contiguous area of southeastern Senegal, The Gambia, southern Mauritania, southwestern Mali, eastern Guinea, northern and eastern Sierra Leone, northern ...
Mandel, Georges: French political leader noted for his hostility toward Nazi Germany.
Mandela, Nelson: South African black nationalist and statesman whose long imprisonment (1962-90) and subsequent ascension to the presidency (1994) symbolized the aspirations of South Africa's black majority. He led the country until 1999.
Mandelshtam, Osip Emilyevich: major Russian poet and literary critic. Most of his works went unpublished in the Soviet Union during the Stalin era (1929-53) and were almost unknown outside that country until the mid-1960s.
Mander, Carel van: Dutch Mannerist painter, poet, and writer whose fame is principally based upon a biographical work on painters-Het Schilder-boeck (1604; "The Book of Painters")-that has become for the northern countries what Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Painters became for Italy.
Mander, Jane: writer noted for her realistic novels about her native land and her frank treatment of sexual issues.
Mandeville, Bernard de: Dutch prose writer and philosopher who won European fame with The Fable of the Bees.
Mandeville, Sir John: purported author of a collection of travelers' tales from around the world, The Voyage and Travels of Sir John Mandeville, Knight, generally known as The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The tales are selections from the narratives of genuine travelers, ...
Mandi: city, central Himachal Pradesh state, northwestern India. The city lies along the Beas River north-northwest of Simla (Shimla), the state capital. It is a trade centre for agricultural produce and timber; handloom weaving and handicrafts are the principal industries. Mandi ...
mandibulofacial dysostosis: a rare, genetic disorder, inherited as an autosomal-dominant trait and characterized by some or all of the following: underdevelopment of the cheek and jaw bones, widely separated eyes, malformation of the lower eyelid and lack of eyelashes, malformation of the ...
Mandla: city, east-central Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It lies just north of the Narmada River. Formerly the capital of the Garh-Mandla Gond kingdom, it was constituted a municipality in 1867. The city is a road junction and rail-spur terminus and ...
mandolin: small stringed musical instrument related to the lute. It evolved in the 18th century and was built in several varieties in different Italian towns, the Neapolitan mandolin becoming the representative type.
mandora: small, pear-shaped stringed instrument of the lute family, played from the 12th to the 18th century. Probably of Persian origin, it was known in the Middle Ages as the guitarra morisca, or guitarra saracenica, ...
mandorla: (Italian: "almond"), in religious art, almond-shaped aureole of light surrounding the entire figure of a holy person; it was used in Christian art usually for the figure of Christ and is also found in the art of Buddhism. Its origins ...
mandrake: any of six plant species belonging to the genus Mandragora (family Solanaceae) that are native to the Mediterranean region and the Himalayas. The best-known species, M. officinarum, has a short stem bearing a tuft of ovate flowers, with a thick, ...
mandrel: cylinder, usually steel, used to support a partly machined workpiece while it is being finished, or as a core around which parts may be bent or other material forged or molded. As a support during machining, the mandrel is usually ...
mandrill: colourful and primarily ground-dwelling monkey that inhabits the rainforests of equatorial Africa from the Sanaga River (Cameroon) southward to the Congo River. The mandrill is stout-bodied and has a short tail, prominent brow ridges, and small, close-set, sunken eyes. The ...
Mandu: ruined city, southwestern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It lies 38 miles (60 km) southwest of the city of Indore. Said to have been founded in the 6th century AD, Mandu became famous as the 14th-15th-century capital of the Muslim ...
Mandurah: resort town, southwestern Western Australia. It lies at the entrance to Peel Inlet, 40 miles (65 km) south of Perth. Founded in 1895, it lies on the original land tract granted in 1829 to Thomas Peel, a cousin of the ...
Manduria: town, Taranto provincia, Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy. Of pre-Roman origin, it is the site of a well that was probably a pagan sanctuary and was named for Pliny the Elder, who mentioned it in his writings. The Imperiali and ...
Mandya: city, southern Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southwestern India. It lies about 26 miles (41 km) northeast of Mysore on the Chamrajnagar-Bangalore Railway. The centre of a sugarcane region, its processing plants supply the sugar residues used in local paper manufacture ...
mandyas: long, full, purple or blue cloak worn as a processional garment by bishops and some other dignitaries in the Eastern Orthodox churches. It is open down the front but fastened at the neck and at the hem. At the point ...
maned rat: a long-haired and bushy-tailed East African rodent that resembles a porcupine and is named for its mane of long, coarse black-and-white-banded hairs that begins at the top of the head and extends beyond the base of the tail. The maned ...
maned wolf: (species Chrysocyon brachyurus), rare, large-eared member of the dog family (Canidae) found in remote plains areas of central South America. The maned wolf has a foxlike head, long reddish brown fur, very long blackish legs, and an erectile mane. Its ...
Manet, Edouard: French painter who broke new ground by defying traditional techniques of representation and by choosing subjects from the events and circumstances of his own time. His Dejeuner sur l'herbe ("Luncheon on the Grass"), exhibited in 1863 at ...
Manetho: Egyptian priest who wrote a history of Egypt in Greek, probably for Ptolemy I (305-282).
Manfaluti, Mustafa Lutfi al-: essayist, short-story writer, and pioneer of modern Arabic prose.
Manfred: effective king of Sicily from 1258, during a period of civil wars and succession disputes between imperial claimants and the House of Anjou.
Manfredonia: town and archiepiscopal see, Foggia province, Puglia (Apulia) region, east central Italy, on the southern slope of the Promontorio del Gargano at the head of the Golfo (gulf) di Manfredonia, northeast of Foggia. The Romanesque church of Sta. Maria di ...
mangabey: any of 10 species of slender, rather long-limbed monkeys found in African tropical forests. Mangabeys are fairly large quadrupedal monkeys with cheek pouches and deep depressions under the cheekbones. Species range in head and body length from about 40 to ...
mangal-kavya: (Bengali: "auspicious poems"), a type of eulogistic verse in honour of a popular god or goddess in Bengal (India). The poems are sometimes associated with a Pan-Indian deity, such as Siva, but more often with a local Bengali deity-e.g., Manasa, ...
Mangalore: town, administrative headquarters of Dakshin Kannad district, southwestern Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southern India, a port on the Arabian Sea. Lying on the backwaters formed by the Netravati and Gurpur rivers, it has long been a roadstead along the Malabar ...
Mangan, James Clarence: a prolific and uneven writer of almost every kind of verse whose best work, inspired by love of Ireland, ranks high in Irish poetry.
Manganelli, Giorgio: Italian critical theorist and novelist, one of the leaders of the avant-garde in the 1960s.