in the United States, holiday (last Monday in May) honouring those who have died in the nation's wars. It originated during the American Civil War (1861-64) when citizens placed flowers ...
city, seat (1819) of Shelby county, extreme southwestern Tennessee, U.S. It lies on the Chickasaw bluffs above the Mississippi River where the borders of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee meet. Memphis ...
city and capital of ancient Egypt during the Old Kingdom (c. 2575-c. 2130 BC), located south of the Nile River delta, on the west bank of the river, and about ...
(May 1866), in the U.S. post-Civil War period, attack by members of the white majority on black residents of Memphis, Tennessee, illustrating Southern intransigence in the face of defeat and ...
public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. It is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee and offers a comprehensive selection of undergraduate, ...
elongated finger lake that crosses the United States-Canadian border 5 miles (8 km) north of Newport, Vt., U.S. Extending about 27 miles (43 km) from Newport to Magog, Que., the ...
moon god worshiped widely in Asia Minor during Roman times and also in Attica from the 3rd century BC. Little is known of his origin, but he may have been ...
in Chinese mythology, the two door gods whose separate martial images are posted on the two halves of the double front door of private homes to guarantee protection from evil ...
Spanish sculptor who created many statues and busts of polychromed wood for churches in Spain and Latin America and whose work typifies the late Baroque.
historic kingdom of the Sakalava people in southwestern Madagascar, situated roughly between the Mangoky and Manambalo rivers. It was founded in the 17th century by King Andriandahifotsy (d. 1685), who ...
French scholar and man of letters known for philological works as well as for the mercuriales, Wednesday literary meetings, he sponsored for a period of over 30 years.
king of Israel whose 10-year reign was distinguished for its cruelty. Events of his rule are related in II Kings 15:14-22. In about 746 BC, Shallum ben Jabesh assassinated Zechariah, ...
Jewish lexicographer and poet who composed the first Hebrew-language dictionary, a lexicon of the Bible; earlier biblical dictionaries were written in Arabic and translated into Hebrew.
suspension bridge spanning the Menai Strait from Bangor, Wales, to the island of Anglesey, a distance of 580 feet (176 metres). Designed and built (1819-26) by Thomas Telford (q.v.), it ...
channel of the Irish Sea separating Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mon) county from the mainland of North Wales. It extends 15 miles (24 km) from Beaumaris to Abermenai Point and ...
Athenian dramatist whom ancient critics considered the supreme poet of Greek New Comedy-i.e., the last flowering of Athenian stage comedy. During his life, his success was limited; although he wrote ...
the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings and the one best known to Western and Indian classical authors; he is believed to have been a patron of the Buddhist religion and ...
Byzantine historian whose surviving works are a valuable authority for the 6th century, especially on geography and ethnography. At the suggestion of the Emperor Maurice (582-602), he wrote a history ...
city, Winnebago and Calumet counties, east-central Wisconsin, U.S. It lies along Lake Winnebago and the north channel of the Fox River, just south of Appleton and 30 miles (50 km) ...
in Egyptian religion, protective amulet, usually hung at the back of the neck as a counterpoise to the necklace worn in the front. Frequently made of glazed ware and quite ...
Russian-born British international chess master who was the women's world chess champion from 1927 until her death. See the table of women's world chess champions.
early Chinese philosopher whose development of orthodox Confucianism earned him the title "second sage." Chief among his basic tenets was an emphasis on the obligation of rulers to provide for ...
people of Sierra Leone, including also a small group in Liberia; they speak a language of the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo family. The Mende grow rice as their staple ...
town, capital of Lozere departement, Languedoc-Roussillon region, southeastern France, lying south-southeast of Clermont-Ferrand. It is situated at 2,425 feet (739 m) above sea level in the Massif Central, on the ...
Austrian botanist and plant experimenter, the first to lay the mathematical foundation of the science of genetics, in what came to be called Mendelism.
Jewish author, founder of both modern Yiddish and modern Hebrew narrative literature and the creator of modern literary Yiddish. He adopted his pseudonym, which means "Mendele the Itinerant Bookseller," in ...
synthetic chemical element of the actinide series in Group IIIb of the periodic table, atomic number 101. It was the first element to be synthesized and discovered one atom at ...
Russian chemist who developed the periodic classification of the elements. Mendeleyev found that, when all the known chemical elements were arranged in order of increasing atomic weight, the resulting table ...
the principles of heredity formulated by the Austrian Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel in 1865. These principles compose what is known as the system of particulate inheritance by units, or genes. ...
German architect known initially for his Einstein Tower in Potsdam, a notable example of German Expressionism in architecture, and later for his use of modern materials and construction methods to ...
German composer, pianist, musical conductor, and teacher, one of the most celebrated figures of the early Romantic period. In his music Mendelssohn largely observed Classical models and practices while initiating ...
German-Jewish philosopher, critic, and Bible translator and commentator who greatly contributed to the efforts of Jews to assimilate to the German bourgeoisie.
blue ice sheet, 12 miles (19 km) long, southeastern Alaska, U.S. It was originally named Sitaantaagu ("the Glacier Behind the Town") or Aak'wtaaksit ("the Glacier Behind the Little Lake") by ...
river, southwestern Turkey. It rises on the Anatolian plateau south and west of Afyon and flows westward through a narrow valley and canyon. At Saraykoy it expands into a broad, ...
prolific French poet, playwright, and novelist, most noted for his association with the Parnassians, a group of French poets who advocated a controlled, formal art for art's sake in reaction ...
Brazilian poet and diplomat who played an important role in Brazilian Modernism after 1930, though much of his life was spent as a teacher and as cultural attache in the ...
French socialist statesman and premier (June 1954-February 1955) whose negotiations ended French involvement in the Indochina War. He was distinguished for his efforts to invigorate the Fourth Republic and the ...
town, central Papua New Guinea. It lies at an elevation of 5,495 feet (1,675 m) in the Mendi River valley on a gentle volcanic slope with mountains to the west ...
member of any of several Roman Catholic religious orders who assumes a vow of poverty and supports himself or herself by work and charitable contributions. The mendicant orders surviving today ...
district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, southwestern England, about 20 miles (32 km) south of the city of Bristol. It is named after the most prominent feature in the ...
range of hills in the geographic county of Somerset, England, extending 23 miles (37 km) northwest from the Frome valley. The Eastern Mendip is comparatively low, but the Western Mendip ...
lowermost and oldest major division of Lower Cretaceous rocks and time in Chile and Argentina (the Cretaceous Period began about 136,000,000 years ago and lasted about 71,000,000 years). It consists ...
submarine fracture zone in the Earth's surface in the eastern Pacific Ocean, extending westward from about 120 mi (190 km) off Cape Mendocino, California, for at least 2,500 mi to ...
city, capital of Mendoza province, western Argentina, at an elevation of 2,497 ft (761 m), in the irrigated Rio Mendoza Valley, at the foot of the secondary Andean range, Sierra ...
provincia, western Argentina. Mendoza province extends eastward from the high peaks of the Andes Mountains, which form its boundary with Chile. A considerable part of its area ...
the first and probably the most able viceroy of New Spain, who ruled the conquered Mexican territory with justice, efficiency, and a degree of compassion and established policies that endured ...
bareknuckle pugilist, 16th in the succession of English heavyweight champions and the first Jewish champion. He was the first important fighter to combine scientific boxing with rapid, rather than hard, ...
in Greek mythology, king of Sparta and the younger son of Atreus, king of Mycenae; the abduction of his wife, Helen, led to the Trojan War. During the war Menelaus ...
Greek mathematician and astronomer who first conceived and defined a spherical triangle (a triangle formed by three arcs of great circles on the surface of a sphere).
politician and lawyer, who served as president of Argentina (1989-99)-the first Peronist to be elected president of Argentina since Juan Peron in 1973.
British writer whose essays and novels explore the nature of nationalism and the cultural contrast between his own Irish-Indian ancestry and his traditional British upbringing.
scholar whose work on the origins of the Spanish language, as well as critical editions of texts, generated a revival of the study of medieval Spanish poetry and chronicles.
Spanish literary critic and historian, remarkable for his vast erudition and his elegant and flexible prose. Although some of his judgments are no longer accepted, his studies of medieval, Renaissance, ...
first king of unified Egypt, who, according to tradition, joined Upper and Lower Egypt in a single, centralized monarchy. Manetho, a 3rd-century-BC Egyptian historian, called him Menes; the 5th-century-BC Greek ...
in Baltic religion, the moon, the god whose monthly renewal of strength is imparted to all growing things. The "young," or "new," moon, sometimes called Dievaitis (Lithuanian: "Little God," or ...
town in southern Yunnan sheng (province), China. In the 19th century, Meng-tzu was a trading centre for commerce between the interior of Yunnan and the Hanoi-Haiphong area of Indochina. Communications ...
symphonic conductor in the Romantic tradition who, during his tenure with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra (1895-1945), developed it into one of the world's finest orchestras.
Nazi doctor at Auschwitz extermination camp (1943-45) who selected prisoners for execution in the gas chambers and conducted medical experiments on inmates in pseudoscientific racial studies.
