Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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madrigal ... Magdeburg

madrigal: form of vocal chamber music that originated in northern Italy during the 14th century, declined and all but disappeared in the 15th, flourished anew in the 16th, and ultimately achieved international status in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. ...
madrigal comedy: Italian musical genre of the late 16th century, a cycle of vocal pieces in the style of the madrigal and lighter Italian secular forms that are connected by a vague plot or common theme. Madrigal comedies were sung in concerts ...
madtom: any of several North American catfishes of the genus Noturus, of the family Ictaluridae. They are sometimes classified in two genera, Noturus and Schilbeodes. Generally about 5-7.5 cm (2-3 inches) long, madtoms are the smallest ictalurids and are characterized by ...
Madura: island, Jawa Timur provinsi (province), Indonesia, off the northeastern coast of Java and separated from the city of Surabaya by a narrow, shallow channel. The island, which covers an area of 2,042 square miles (5,290 square km), ...
Madura foot: fungus infection, usually localized in the foot but occurring occasionally elsewhere on the body, apparently resulting from inoculation into a scratch or abrasion of any of a number of fungi: Penicillium, Aspergillus, or Madurella, or actinomycetes such as Nocardia.
Madurai: city, south-central Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, bounded on the west by Kerala state. It is the second largest, and probably oldest, city in the state. Located on the Vaigai River and enclosed by the Anai, Naga, and Pasu (Elephant, ...
Madurese: native population of the arid and infertile island of Madura, found today on Madura, the Kangean Islands, and the adjacent coast of northeastern Java in Indonesia. Of Deutero-Malay stock, the Madurese speak two principal dialects-West Madurese (concentrated in Pamekasan) and ...
Madurese language: an Austronesian language of the Indonesian subfamily, spoken on Madura Island, some smaller offshore islands, and the northern coast of Java, Indonesia. Dialects include Eastern, or Sumenep, and Western, including Bangkalan and Pamekasan. Sumenep is the standard dialect for educational ...
Madvig, Johan Nicolai: classical scholar and Danish government official who published many works on Latin grammar and Greek syntax and helped to lay the foundation of modern textual criticism; his exemplary edition of Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum ("On Good and Evil ...
Mae Hong Son: town, extreme northwestern Thailand, in the Daen Lao Range. Mae Hong Son has an airport with scheduled flights to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Lampang, and Phrae.
Maebara Issei: Japanese soldier-politician who helped to establish the 1868 Meiji Restoration (which ended the feudal Tokugawa shogunate and reinstated direct rule of the emperor) and who became a major figure in the new government until 1876, when he led a short-lived ...
Maebashi: capital, Gumma ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the Kanto Plain. An old castle town, in the Muromachi period (1338-1573) it was called Umayabashi. It was the seat of the Matsudaira family during the Tokugawa period (1603-1867). The city grew rapidly ...
Maecenas, Gaius: Roman diplomat, counsellor to the Roman emperor Augustus, and wealthy patron of such poets as Virgil and Horace. He was criticized by Seneca for his luxurious way of life.
Maeda Family: the daimyo, or lords, of Kaga Province (now part of Ishikawa Prefecture) in central Japan, whose domain was second only to that controlled by the powerful Tokugawa family.
Maekawa Kunio: Japanese architect noted for his designs of community centres and his work in concrete.
Maelius, Spurius: wealthy Roman plebeian who allegedly tried to buy popular support with the aim of making himself king. During the severe famine of 440-439, he bought up a large store of grain and sold it at a low price to the ...
Maelstrom: marine channel and strong tidal current of the Norwegian Sea, in the Lofoten islands, northern Norway. Flowing between the islands of Moskenesoya (north) and Mosken (south), it has a treacherous current. About 5 miles (8 km) wide, alternating in flow ...
Maerlant, Jacob van: pioneer of the didactic poetry that flourished in the Netherlands in the 14th century.
Maes, Nicolaes: Dutch Baroque painter of genre and portraits who was a follower of Rembrandt.
Maeshowe barrow: prehistoric chambered mound located northeast of Stromness on Mainland (or Pomona) in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The mound, probably built as a tomb for a chieftain family, was in the shape of a blunted cone, 300 feet (91 m) in ...
Maesta: (Italian: "Majesty"), double-sided altarpieces executed for the cathedral of Siena by the Italian painter Duccio. The first version (1302), originally in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, is now lost. The second version (Oct. 9, 1308-June 9, 1311), painted for the ...
Maestra, Sierra: mountain range in Granma and Santiago de Cuba provincias, southeastern Cuba. The range extends eastward from Cape Cruz, at the southern shore of the Gulf of Guacanayabo, to the Guantanamo River valley. The heavily wooded mountains rise sharply from the ...
Maeterlinck, Maurice: Belgian Symbolist poet, playwright, and essayist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911 for his outstanding works of the Symbolist theatre. He wrote in French and looked mainly to French literary movements for inspiration.
Maetsuyker, Joan: governor-general of the Dutch East Indies from 1653 to 1678. He directed the transformation of the Dutch East India Company, then at the very height of its power, from a commercial to a territorial power.
Maewo: island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, 65 miles (105 km) east of the island of Espiritu Santo. Volcanic in origin, it is 29 miles (47 km) long by 4 miles (6 km) wide and has an area of ...
Maeztu, Ramiro de: Spanish journalist and sociopolitical theorist.
Maffei I and II: two galaxies relatively close to the Milky Way Galaxy but unobserved until the late 1960s, when the Italian astronomer Paolo Maffei detected them by their infrared radiation. Studies in the United States established that the objects are galaxies. Lying near ...
Maffei, Francesco Scipione, Marchese di: (marquess of) Italian dramatist, archaeologist, and scholar who, in his verse tragedy Merope, attempted to introduce Greek and French classical simplicity into Italian drama and thus prepared the way for the dramatic tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri and the librettos of ...
Mafia: hierarchically structured society of criminals of primarily Italian or Sicilian birth or extraction. The term applies to the traditional criminal organization in Sicily and also to a criminal organization in the United States.
Mafia Island: island in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of Tanzania, eastern Africa. It lies 80 miles (130 km) southeast of Dar es-Salaam and opposite the mouth of the Rufiji River. It is 170 square miles (440 square km) in ...
mafic rock: in geology, igneous rock that is dominated by the silicates pyroxene, amphibole, olivine, and mica. These minerals are high in magnesium and ferric oxides, and their presence gives mafic rock its characteristic dark colour. Mafic rock is commonly contrasted with ...
Mafikeng: town, capital of North-West province, South Africa. It was previously part of the not internationally recognized republic of Bophuthatswana, in one of that country's separated land units. It lies close to the Botswana border, about 150 miles (240 km) west ...
Mafra: town, Lisboa distrito ("district"), west-central Portugal. It lies near the Atlantic Ocean, 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Lisbon. It is noted primarily for the National Palace (also containing a church and monastery), built (1717-35) by King John V in ...
MAG machine gun: general-purpose machine gun used primarily as a tank- or vehicle-mounted weapon, although it is also made with a butt and bipod for infantry use. Manufactured by Belgium's Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre (FN), the MAG was adopted for use by ...
Magadan: oblast (province), northeastern Siberia, far eastern Russia. Magadan oblast is bordered by the Sea of Okhotsk to the east and southeast and by the Chukchi autonomous okrug to the north, Khabarovsk
Magadan: port and administrative centre of Magadan oblast (region), far northeastern Russia. It lies at the head of Nagayevo Bay of the Gulf of Tauysk, on the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. The city was founded ...
Magadha: ancient kingdom of India, situated in what is now west-central Bihar state, in northeastern India. It was the nucleus of several larger kingdoms or empires between the 6th century BC and the 8th century AD.
Magadi, Lake: lake, in the Great Rift Valley, southern Kenya. Lake Magadi is 20 miles (32 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide and is located about 150 miles (240 km) east of Lake Victoria. It occupies the lowest level of ...
Magallanes y La Antarctica Chilena: largest and southernmost region of Chile. Named for Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator, it became a colonial territory in 1853 and a province in 1929. It was given its present boundaries in 1961 and established as a region in 1974. ...
Magangue: city, Bolivar departamento, northern Colombia, on the Brazo de Loba (a branch of the Magdalena River). The original Indian village, Maganguey (Manguey), was discovered by Spanish explorers in 1532. The city was not actually founded, however, until 1610, when Diego ...
Magar: people of Nepal and Sikkim state, India, living mainly on the western and southern flanks of the Dhaulagiri mountain massif. They number about 390,000. The Magar speak a language of the Tibeto-Burman family. The northern Magar are Lamaist Buddhists in ...
magatama: chiefly Japanese jade ornament shaped like a comma with a small perforation at the thick end; it was worn as a pendant, and its form may derive from prehistoric animal-tooth pendants. There are also examples with caps made of gold ...
magazine: a printed collection of texts (essays, articles, stories, poems), often illustrated, that is produced at regular intervals (excluding newspapers).
Magburaka: town, central Sierra Leone, on the Rokel River. Located on the government railway, it is a traditional trade centre (in rice, palm oil and kernels, tomatoes, and kola nuts) among the Temne people. Magburaka has government and church schools, a ...
Magdalen Islands: islands in Gaspesie-Iles-de-la-Madeleine region, eastern Quebec province, Canada. They lie in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Gaspe Peninsula. The group, comprising nine main islands and numerous islets, has ...
Magdalena: delegacion (district), west-central Federal District, central Mexico. It lies along the Magdalena River near Cerro Ajusco. Although once simply the commercial centre for the cereals, beans, fruits, and livestock produced in the surrounding area, Magdalena gained prominence as the site ...
Magdalena: departamento, northern Colombia, occupying the Caribbean lowlands and bounded by the Magdalena River on the west. Much of its area is swamp, floodplain, or high mountains (including the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the northeast). The major economic activity ...
Magdalena del Mar: city and distrito ("district") of the Lima-Callao metropolitan area of Peru, southwest of central Lima. It is bounded on the south by cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In the early 20th century the area developed as a popular resort, but ...
Magdalena River: river, north-central Colombia. It rises at the bifurcation of the Andean Cordilleras Central and Oriental, and flows northward for 930 miles (1,497 km) to the Caribbean Sea. It receives the San Jorge, Cesar, and Cauca rivers in the swampy floodplain ...
Magdalenian culture: toolmaking industry and artistic tradition of Upper Paleolithic Europe, which followed the Solutrean industry and was succeeded by the simplified Azilian; it represents the culmination of Upper Paleolithic cultural development in Europe. The Magdalenians lived some 11,000 to 17,000 years ...
Magdeburg: city, capital of Saxony-Anhalt Land (state), east-central Germany. It lies along the Elbe River, southwest of Berlin.