Malayalam \,ma-b-'ya-bm\ language Dravidian language spoken by more than 36 million people mainly in the Indian state of Kerala. Malayalam is closely related to Tamil, from which it is estimated to have separated about the 10th century ad. The earliest literary composition in the language is from the 13th century. Like other major Dravidian lan¬ guages, Malayalam has a number of regional dialects, social dialects that reflect differences in caste and religion, and marked distinctions in for¬ mal and informal usage. Literacy among Malayalam speakers is believed to be higher than literacy among speakers of any other Indian language.
Malayan Emergency (1948-60) Period of unrest following the cre¬ ation of the Federation of Malaya (precursor of Malaysia) in 1948. The Communist Party of Malaya, which was mostly Chinese, was alarmed at the special guarantees of rights for Malays (including the position of sul¬ tans) and began a guerrilla insurgency, which was supported by only a minority of the Chinese. British efforts to suppress the insurgency mili¬ tarily were unpopular, especially their relocation of rural Chinese into tightly controlled “New Villages”; when the British addressed political and economic grievances, the rebels became increasingly isolated, and the emergency ended. See also Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Alhaj; Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army.
Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) Guerrilla movement formed to oppose the Japanese occupation of Malaya (Penin¬ sular Malaysia) during World War II. The British military, foreseeing a Japanese invasion, trained small groups of Malayans as guerrilla troops; these became the MPAJA. Members of the MPAJA, who were primarily Chinese communists, emerged as heroes from the war and attempted to seize power before the British military returned. Its leadership then went underground until 1948, when they initiated the uprising called the Malayan Emergency.
Malayo-Polynesian languages See Austronesian languages
Malaysia Country, Southeast Asia. It is composed of two regions— Peninsular, or West, Malaysia and East Malaysia—separated by 400 mi (650 km) of the South China Sea. West Malaysia occupies the southern half of the Malay Peninsula (Malaya) and is bordered to the north by Thai¬ land. East Malaysia lies on the northwestern part of the island of Borneo and consists of the states of Sarawak and Sabah. Area: 127,355 sq mi
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Putrajaya. Because of Malaysia’s location on the heavily traveled Strait of Malacca, the population is a highly diverse mix, in
which ethnic Malays and Chinese form the largest groups and smaller ethnic groups include Indians, Pakistanis, and Tamils. Languages: Malay (official), Chinese, Indo-European languages. Religions: Islam (official), Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism. Currency: ringgit. West Malaysia is largely mountainous; East Malaysia has coastal plains rising to hills and then to a mountainous core. Much of Malaysia is covered by rainforest. Tree crops, notably rubber and palm oil, are the most important cash crops; rice is the chief staple crop. Petroleum drilling and production and tin mining are important, as is the manufacture of electronic products, rubber goods, cement, and iron and steel products. Malaysia is a consti¬ tutional monarchy with two legislative houses; the chief of state is the paramount ruler, and the head of government is the prime minister. Malaya has been inhabited for 6,000-8,000 years. Small kingdoms existed in the 2nd-3rd century ad when adventurers from India first arrived. Sumatran exiles founded the city-state of Malacca c. 1400, and it flour¬ ished as a trading and Islamic religious centre until its capture by the Por¬ tuguese in 1511. Malacca passed to the Dutch in 1641. The British founded a settlement on Singapore Island in 1819, and by 1867 they had established the Straits Settlements, including Malacca, Singapore, and Pen¬ ang. During the late 19th century, Chinese began to migrate to Malaya. Japan invaded Malaya in 1941 and captured Singapore in 1942. After Japan’s defeat in 1945, opposition to British rule led to the creation of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in 1946, and in 1948 the peninsula was federated with Penang. Malaya gained independence from Britain in 1957, and the Federation of Malaysia was established in 1963. Its economy expanded greatly from the late 1970s, though it experienced the regional economic slump of the mid- to late 1990s; the economy sub¬ sequently recovered.
Malcolm II (b. c. 954—d. Nov. 25, 1034) King of Scotland (1005-34). He acquired the throne after killing Kenneth III and defeating a Northum¬ brian army at Carham (c. 1016). He became the first king to reign over territory roughly equivalent to modem Scotland. He tried to eliminate rivals to his grandson Duncan I, but Macbeth survived to challenge the succession.
Malcolm III Canmore (b. c. 1031—d. Nov. 13, 1093, near Alnick, Northumberland, Eng.) King of Scotland (1058-93). The son of King Duncan I, he lived in exile in England after Macbeth murdered his father. He defeated and killed Macbeth in 1057 and was crowned king, found¬ ing a dynasty that consolidated royal power in Scotland. He gave refuge
to the Anglo-Saxon prince Edgar the Aetheling in 1066. Though he rec¬ ognized William I as overlord in 1072, Malcolm made five raids into England, during the last of which he was killed.
Malcolm X orig. Malcolm Little later El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (b. May 19, 1925,
Omaha, Neb., U.S.—d. Feb. 21,
1965, New York, N.Y.) U.S. black Muslim leader. He was raised in Michigan, where the family house was burned by the Ku Klux Klan; his father was later murdered and his mother was institutionalized. He moved to Boston, drifted into petty crime, and was sent to prison for bur¬ glary in 1946. He converted to the Black Muslim faith (Nation of Islam) the same year. On his release in 1952, he changed his last name to X to signify his rejection of his “slave name.” Soon after meeting the Nation of Islam’s leader, Elijah Muhammad, he became the sect’s most effective speaker and organizer.
He spoke with bitter eloquence against white exploitation of blacks and derided the civil rights move¬ ment and integration, calling instead for black separatism, black pride, and the use of violence for self-protection. Differences with Elijah Muhammad prompted Malcolm to leave the Nation of Islam in 1964. A pilgrimage to Mecca led him to acknowledge the possibility of world brotherhood and to convert to orthodox Islam. Rival Black Muslims made threats against his life, and he was shot to death at a rally in a Harlem ballroom. His celebrated autobiography (1965) was written by Alex Haley on the basis of numerous interviews conducted shortly before Malcolm’s death.
Maldives Vmol-.devzX officially Republic of Maldives Archipelago country, north-central Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka. It is a chain of about 1,200 small coral islands and sandbanks (some 200 of which are
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