Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Mataram ... matriarchy

Mataram: city, capital of Nusa Tenggara Barat (West Nusa Tenggara) provinsi (province), Lombok island, Indonesia. It is located on the western coast, east of Bali. Until the end of the 18th century, it was the chief city ...
Mataura River: river, South Island, New Zealand. It rises in the Eyre Mountains south of Wakatipu Lake and flows south past Gore and Mataura to enter the Pacific Ocean at Foveaux Strait, 20 miles (32 km) east of Bluff, after a course ...
match: splinter of wood, strip of cardboard, or other suitable flammable material tipped with a substance ignitable by friction.
matchlock: in firearms, a device for igniting gunpowder developed in the 15th century, a major advance in the manufacture of small arms. The matchlock was the first mechanical firing device. It consisted of an S-shaped arm, called a serpentine, that held ...
mate: tealike beverage, popular in many South American countries, brewed from the dried leaves of an evergreen shrub or tree (Ilex paraguariensis) related to holly. It is a stimulating drink, greenish in colour, containing caffeine and tannin, and is less astringent ...
Matehuala: city, northern San Luis Potosi estado ("state"), northeastern Mexico. It is situated on the interior plateau, 5,955 feet (1,815 m) above sea level, in the Salado Valley, east of the Sierra del Catorce. Some corn (maize) is cultivated in the ...
Matera: city, capital of Matera provincia, Basilicata regione, southern Italy. It lies above a deep ravine, northwest of Taranto. Of obscure origin, the town formed part of the duchy of Benevento and of the principality of Salerno and was occupied successively ...
Materialism: in philosophy, the view that all facts (including facts about the human mind and will and the course of human history) are causally dependent upon physical processes, or even reducible to them.
materials handling: the movement of raw goods from their native site to the point of use in manufacturing, their subsequent manipulation in production processes, and the transfer of finished products from factories and their distribution to users or sales outlets.
materials processing: the series of operations that transforms industrial materials from a raw-material state into finished parts or products. Industrial materials are defined as those used in the manufacture of "hard" goods, such as more or less durable machines and equipment produced ...
materials science: the study of the properties of solid materials and how those properties are determined by a material's composition and structure. It grew out of an amalgam of solid-state physics, metallurgy, and chemistry, since the rich variety of materials properties cannot ...
materials testing: measurement of the characteristics and behaviour of such substances as metals, ceramics, or plastics under various conditions. The data thus obtained can be used in specifying the suitability of materials for various applications-e.g., building or aircraft construction, machinery, or packaging. ...
maternal school: a French school for children between two and six years old. Private schools for young children were founded in France around 1779, under the influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. The central government took over most of them in 1833 and ...
mathematical model: either a physical representation of mathematical concepts or a mathematical representation of reality. Physical mathematical models include reproductions of plane and solid geometric figures made of cardboard, wood, plastic, or other substances; models of conic sections, curves in space, or ...
mathematical programming: theoretical tool of management science and economics in which management operations are described by mathematical equations that can be manipulated for a variety of purposes. If the basic descriptions involved take the form of linear algebraic equations, the technique is ...
mathematicism: the effort to employ the formal structure and rigorous method of mathematics as a model for the conduct of philosophy. Mathematicism is manifested in Western philosophy in at least three ways: (1) General mathematical methods of investigation can be used ...
mathematics: the science of structure, order, and relation that has evolved from elemental practices of counting, measuring, and describing the shapes of objects. It deals with logical reasoning and quantitative calculation, and its development has involved an increasing degree of idealization ...
mathematics, East Asian: the discipline of mathematics as it developed in China and Japan.
mathematics, foundations of: the study of the logical and philosophical basis of mathematics, including whether the axioms of a given system ensure its completeness and its consistency. Because mathematics has served as a model for rational inquiry in the West and is used ...
mathematics, philosophy of: the study of the nature of mathematics, including underlying assumptions of the discipline and its scope.
mathematics, South Asian: the discipline of mathematics as it developed in the Indian subcontinent.
Mather, Cotton: American Congregational minister and author, supporter of the old order of the ruling clergy, who became the most celebrated of all New England Puritans. He combined a mystical strain (he believed in the existence of witchcraft) with a modern scientific ...
Mather, Increase: Boston Congregational minister, author and educator, who was a determining influence in the councils of New England during the crucial period when leadership passed into the hands of the first native-born generation. He was the son of Richard Mather, son-in-law ...
Mather, Richard: English-born American Congregational minister, father of Increase Mather and three other Puritan ministers. After joining the Great Migration of Puritans from England to New England (1635), he was elected "teacher" minister at Dorchester, Mass., and became locally celebrated as a ...
Mathesius, Vilem: Czech linguist and scholar of English language and literature. He was president of the Prague Linguistic Circle, famous for its influence on structural linguistics and for its phonological studies. Mathesius taught at Charles University in Prague, beginning in 1909 after ...
Mathew, Theobald: Irish priest and orator known as the "Apostle of Temperance."
Mathews, Charles: prominent English stage personality and theatre manager who, renowned for his genius at mimicry and for his wit, was among the leading comedians of his day.
Mathews, Charles James: writer of comic sketches and one of the best high comedians ever to appear on the English stage.
Mathews, Shailer: leader of the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States, which interpreted the Kingdom of God as requiring social as well as individual salvation.
Mathewson, Christy: U.S. professional baseball pitcher, one of the first five players chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. (1936).
Mathias, Bob: American athlete, the youngest to win a gold medal in the decathlon in Olympic competition. After his victory in 1948 at age 17, he returned to win a second Olympic gold medal in 1952.
Mathiassen, Therkel: Danish archaeologist and ethnographer whose excavations during 1921-23 to the west and north of Hudson Bay revealed the existence of the Thule prehistoric Eskimo culture.
Mathieu, Claude-Louis: French astronomer and mathematician who worked particularly on the determination of the distances of the stars.
Mathis, June: American scriptwriter, who helped establish the primacy of the script in American silent films.
Mathura: city, western Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, on the Yamuna River, northwest of Agra. The site of Mathura was inhabited before the 1st century AD. In the 2nd century the city was a stronghold of Buddhists and Jainas. In 1017-18, ...
Mathura art: style of Buddhist visual art that flourished in the trading and pilgrimage centre of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India, from the 2nd century BC to the 12th century AD; its most distinctive contributions were made during the Kushan and Gupta periods ...
Matilda: consort of the Holy Roman emperor Henry V and afterward claimant to the English throne in the reign of King Stephen.
Matilda of Canossa: countess of Tuscany remembered for her role in the conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman emperor. The climax of this struggle, the confrontation of the emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII, took place at Matilda's castle of ...
Matilda Of Flanders: queen consort of William I the Conqueror, whom she married c. 1053. During William's absences in England, the duchy of Normandy was under her regency, with the aid of their son, Robert Curthose (see Robert II [Normandy]), except when he ...
Matisse, Henri: artist often regarded as the most important French painter of the 20th century. The leader of the Fauvist movement around 1900, Matisse pursued the expressiveness of colour throughout his career. His subjects were largely domestic or figurative, and a distinct ...
Matlock: town, Derbyshire Dales district, administrative and historic county of Derbyshire, England. It consists of a group of settlements extending along the River Derwent. Matlock is noted for its beautiful valleys and rugged hills. Between Cromford (site of Sir Richard Arkwright's ...
Mato Grosso: inland estado ("state") of Brazil, situated in the Grande Regiao Centro-Oeste (Grand Central-West Region). It is bounded on the northwest by the states of Rondonia and Amazonas, on the northeast by Para, on the east by Tocantins and Goias, on ...
Mato Grosso do Sul: inland estado ("state") of Brazil, situated in the Grande Regiao Centro-Oeste (Grand Central-West Region). It is bounded on the north by the state of Mato Grosso, on the northeast by the state of Goias, on the east by Minas Gerais ...
Mato Grosso Plateau: part of the Brazilian Highlands of inland Brazil. It is an ancient erosional plateau that occupies much of central Mato Grosso state and extends from the border of Goias state westward to the Serra dos Parecis, which lies near the ...
Matoniaceae: family of ferns dating from the Mesozoic era (245 million to 66.4 million years ago) and distinguished by an umbrella-shaped membranous covering over clusters (sori) or spore-bearing structures (sporangia). The leaves are fan-shaped and lobed in narrow segments or have ...
Matopo Hills: mass of granite hills, southeast of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, formed by river erosion and weathered into fantastic shapes and deep valleys. The hills are associated with folklore and tradition, some being venerated as dwelling places of the spirits of departed Ndebele ...
Matos Guerra, Gregorio de: poet who was the most colourful figure in early Brazilian literature. He was called the Brazilian Villon.
Matosinhos: town and concelho (township), Porto distrito ("district"), northwestern Portugal. The town, a northwestern suburb of Porto city, lies at the mouth of the Leca River along the Atlantic Ocean.
Matra Mountains: the highest range in northern Hungary, and part of the region's central highland belt. The range's maximum elevation is reached at Mount Kekes (3,327 feet [1,014 m]). The Matra is a sharply defined volcanic mass consisting in large part of ...
Matrah: town in Oman, on the Gulf of Oman coast, just west of Muscat. Matrah has traditionally been the country's chief commercial centre and port. Port Qabus, the town's new port facilities, were completed during the 1970s. Port al-Fahl, 3 miles ...
matriarchy: hypothetical social system in which familial and political authority is wielded by women. Under the influence of Charles Darwin's theories of evolution and, more particularly, the work of the Swiss anthropologist J.J. Bachofen, some 19th-century historians and anthropologists believed that ...