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1178 I Mali empire ► malnutrition
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Mali empire Trading empire that flourished in West Africa in the 13th— 16th centuries. It developed from the state of Kangaba on the upper Niger River and was probably founded before ad 1000. The Malinke inhabitants of Kangaba acted as middlemen in the gold trade in ancient Ghana. Grow¬ ing in the 13th century under the leadership of Sundiata, it continued to expand in the 14th century and absorbed Gao and Timbuktu. Its boundaries extended to the Hausa people in the east and to Fulani and Tukulor peoples in the west. It eventually outgrew its political and military strength, and many of its subject areas revolted. By c. 1550 it had ceased to be an important political entity.
Malinke \m3-'lii]-ke\ or Mandinka or Mandingo Cluster of peoples occupying parts of Mali, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Gam¬ bia, and Guinea-Bissau. They speak a Mande language of the Niger- Congo family. Numbering 4.7 million, they are divided into numerous independent groups dominated by a hereditary nobility. One group, the Kangaba, has one of the world’s most ancient dynasties; its rule has been virtually continuous since the 7th-century founding of the Mali empire. Most contemporary Malinke grow millet and sorghum and tend cattle. In religion they are divided among Islam and indigenous faiths.
Malinovsky, Rodion (Yakovlevich) (b. Nov. 23, 1898, Odessa, Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. March 31, 1967, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet marshal prominent in World War II. A corps commander in 1941, he rose to army-group commands and played an important role in the Battle of Stalingrad, then commanded the Soviet drives into Romania (1944) and Austria (1945). After the war he held command positions in the Soviet Far East (1945-55). As minister of defense (1957-67), he oversaw a buildup of Soviet military power.
Malinowski \ I ma-b- , n6f-ske\, Bronislaw (Kasper) (b. April 7, 1884, Krakow, Pol., Austria- Hungary—d. May 16, 1942, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) Polish-British anthropologist. He is principally associated with studies of the peoples of Oceania and with the school of thought known as function¬ alism. After taking degrees in phi¬ losophy, physics, and mathematics in Poland, Malinowski happened upon James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough and went to study anthropol¬ ogy at the London School of Eco¬ nomics and Political Science (1910—
16). Doing research in the Trobriand Islands, he lived in a tent among the people (see Trobriander), spoke the vernacular fluently, recorded “texts” freely on the scene as well as in set interviews, and observed reactions with an acute clinical eye. He was thus able to present a dynamic pic¬ ture of social institutions that clearly separated ideal norms from actual behaviour and in doing so laid much of the basis for modem anthropo¬ logical field research. He taught at the London School of Economics (1922-38) and Yale University (1938-42). He wrote several works that are now considered classics of anthropology, including Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) and Magic, Science and Religion (1948).
Malla era Period of Nepal’s history when the Kathmandu Valley was ruled by the Malla dynasty (10th—18th century). The Malla ruler Jaya Sthiti (r. c. 1382-95) introduced a legal and social code strongly influ¬ enced by contemporary Hindu principles. In the early 18th century one of Nepal’s independent principalities, Gurkha, began to challenge the Mafias, who were at that time weakened by familial dissension and social and economic discontent. They were overthrown by the Gurkha ruler Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1769. See also Newar.
mallard \'mal-ord\ Abundant “wild duck” (Anas platyrhynchos, family Anatidae) of the Northern Hemisphere, ancestor of most domestic ducks. The mallard is a typical dabbling duck in its general habits and courtship display. The drake of the common mallard (subspecies A. p. platyrhyn¬ chos) has a metallic green or purplish head, reddish breast, and light-gray body; the hen is mottled yellowish brown. Both sexes have a yellow bill and a purplish blue, white-bordered wing mark. Males and females of the
Greenland mallard (A. p. conboschas ) also differ markedly in plumage. In the other subspecies, both sexes resemble the female common mallard. Mallards are found throughout most of Asia, Europe, and northern North America.
Mallarme Nma-lar-'maX, Stephane (b. March 18, 1842, Paris, France—d. Sept. 9, 1898, Valvins, near Fontainbleau) French poet.
With Paul Verlaine, he was a founder and leader of the Symbolist movement.
A schoolteacher throughout his life,
Mallarme made steady progress in his parallel career as a poet. Perhaps partly owing to tragedies in his life, most of his verse expresses an intel¬ lectual longing to transcend reality and find refuge in an ideal world, as in the dramatic poems Herodiade (1869) and LApres-midi d’unfaune (1876; “The Afternoon of a Faun”), which inspired Claude Debussy’s famous prelude, and the typographi¬ cally innovative Un Coup de des (1897). After 1868 he devoted him¬ self to writing complex, exquisitely wrought, and extraordinarily difficult poems about the nature of imagina¬ tion itself. The poems were intended for what he called his Grand oeuvre, which he never completed.
Malle \'mal\, Louis (b. Oct. 30, 1932, Thumeries, France—d. Nov. 23, 1995, Beverly Hills, Calif., U.S.) French film director. He made his first feature film, Frantic, in 1957. Malle gained commercial success with The Lovers (1958), starring Jeanne Moreau, and he became a leading figure in the French New Wave. In The Fire Within (1963), Thief of Paris (1967), Murmur of the Heart (1971), and Lacombe, Lucien (1973), he achieved emotional realism and stylistic simplicity. In 1975 he moved to the U.S., where he directed films such as Pretty Baby (1978), Atlantic City (1980), My Dinner with Andre (1981), Au revoir les enfants (1987), and Vanya on 42nd Street (1994).
Mallet, Robert (b. June 3, 1810, Dublin, Ire.—d. Nov. 5, 1881, Lon¬ don, Eng.) Irish civil engineer and scientific investigator. He studied at Trinity College and in 1831 took charge of his father’s Victoria foundry, which he expanded into the dominant foundry in Ireland. His commis¬ sions included the construction of railroad terminals, the Nore viaduct, the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, and several swivel bridges over the Shan¬ non. His major innovation in bridge technology was buckled-plate floor¬ ing. He built an early form of seismograph and advanced the technique of making large castings of iron, such as heavy cannon.
Mallorca See Majorca
mallow family Family Malvaceae (order Malvales), which contains about 95 genera of herbs, shrubs, and small trees. Mallow species occur in all but the coldest parts of the world, but they are most numerous in the tropics. Hairs that branch into starlike patterns commonly cover some or most vegetative (nonflower) parts of these plants. The flowers are regular and often showy. Cotton is the most important member of the family economically. The green fruits of okra are edible. Many species are valued as ornamentals, including hollyhock and rose of Sharon.