© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Manzikert ► maple family I 1189
Manzikert, Battle of (1071) Battle near the town of Manzikert (present-day Malazgirt, Turk.), in which the Seljuq Turks (see Seuuq dynasty) under Sultan Alp-Arslan defeated the Byzantines under Romanus IV Diogenes. Romanus had assembled a large army to confront the Turks and end their forays into Byzantine-ruled Anatolia. His troops included Turkmen mercenaries who deserted to the enemy the night before the battle; the Turks destroyed the Byzantine army and took Romanus pris¬ oner. The battle was followed by the Seljuq conquest of most of Anatolia.
Manzoni, Alessandro (b. March 7, 1785, Milan, Italy—d. May 22, 1873, Milan) Italian novelist and poet. After spending much of his childhood in religious schools, Man¬ zoni wrote a series of religious poems. Sacred Hymns (1815), and later two historical tragedies influ¬ enced by William Shakespeare, II conte di Carmagnola (1820) and Adelchi (performed 1822). He is best known for the novel The Betrothed,
3 vol. (1827), a masterpiece of world literature and the most famous Ital¬ ian novel of its century, in which, prompted by a patriotic urge to forge a language accessible to a wide read¬ ership, he employed a clear, expres¬ sive prose that became a model for many subsequent Italian writers.
Manzoni’s advocacy of a united Italy made him a hero of the Risorgimento; his death prompted Giuseppe Verdi’s great Requiem.
Manzu Vmand-ztiV Giacomo orig. Giacomo Manzoni (b. Dec. 22, 1908, Bergamo, Italy—d. Jan.
17, 1991, Ardea) Italian sculptor.
Apprenticed at an early age, he learned to work in wood, metal, and stone. In 1950, after making a name for himself with sculptures of more than 50 Roman Catholic cardinals and a series of female nudes, he was commissioned to create sculptural bronze doors for St. Peter's Basilica.
His sober realism and extremely delicate modeling achieved both severity and sensuousness of form.
Mao Dun Vmau-’dunV or Mao Tun orig. Shen Dehong or Shen Yanbing (b. July 4, 1896, Tong- xiang, Zhejiang province, China—d.
March 27, 1981, Beijing) Chinese literary critic, author, and editor. A founder of the League of Left-Wing Writers (1930), he served as minister of culture after the communist gov¬ ernment was established (1949-64).
Many Western critics consider his trilogy of novellas Shi (1930; “Eclipse”) to be his masterpiece. English translations of his works include Spring Silkworms and Other Stories (1956) and the novel Rainbow (1992). He is generally considered China’s greatest novelist of realism.
Mao Shan Vmau-'shanN Sacred mountain in Jiangsu province in China, the focus of Daoist revelations to the visionary Yang Xi (ad 364-370). Yang Xi was visited by a group of perfected immortals ( zhenren ) from the heaven of Shangqing (Supreme Purity), who gave him a new set of scriptures and instructions on the coming apocalypse, during which the good were to take refuge in luminous caverns beneath such sacred mountains as Mao Shan. The Mao Shan revelations incorporated elements of Buddhism into Daoist thought and proposed reforms of Daoism, including rejection of its sexual rites in favour of a spiritualized union with a celestial partner.
Mao Zedong Vmau-dzs-'duqN or Mao Tse-tung (b. Dec. 26, 1893, Shaoshan, Hunan province, China—d. Sept. 9, 1976, Beijing) Chinese
Marxist theorist, soldier, and statesman who led China’s communist revo¬ lution and served as chairman of the People’s Republic of China (1949— 59) and chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP; 1931-76). The son of a peasant, Mao joined the revolutionary army that overthrew the Qing dynasty but, after six months as a soldier, left to acquire more edu¬ cation. At Beijing University he met L Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, founders of the CCP, and in 1921 he committed himself to Marxism. At that time, Marxist thought held that revolution lay in the hands of urban workers, but in 1925 Mao concluded that in China it was the peasantry, not the urban proletariat, that had to be mobilized. He became chairman of a Chi¬ nese Soviet Republic formed in rural Jiangxi province; its Red Army withstood repeated attacks from Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist army but at last undertook the Long March to a more secure position in northwestern China. There Mao became the undisputed head of the CCP. Guerrilla war¬ fare tactics, appeals to the local population’s nationalist sentiments, and Mao’s agrarian policies gained the party military advantages against their Nationalist and Japanese enemies and broad support among the peasantry. Mao’s agrarian Marxism differed from the Soviet model, but, when the communists succeeded in taking power in China in 1949, the Soviet Union agreed to provide the new state with technical assistance. However, Mao’s Great Leap Forward and his criticism of “new bourgeois elements” in the Soviet Union and China alienated the Soviet Union irrevocably; Soviet aid was withdrawn in 1960. Mao followed the failed Great Leap Forward with the Cultural Revolution, also considered to have been a disastrous mistake. After Mao’s death, Deng Xiaoping introduced social and eco¬ nomic reforms that began reversing the policies put in place by Mao. See also Jiang Qing; Liu Shaoqi; Maoism.
Maoism Vmau-.i-zomX Variation of Marxism and Leninism developed by Mao Zedong. It diverged from its antecedents in its agrarian focus: Mao substituted the dormant power of the peasantry (discounted by traditional Marxists) for the urban proletariat that China largely lacked. The Maoist faith in revolutionary enthusiasm and the positive value of the peasants’ lack of sophistication as opposed to technological or intellectual elites fueled the Great Leap Forward of the 1950s and the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s. The disastrous consequences of both upheavals led Mao’s successors to abandon Maoism as counterproductive to economic growth and social order. Maoism was embraced by insurgent guerrilla groups worldwide; under the Khmer Rouge it became Cambodia’s national ideology.
Maori Vmau-re\ Any member of a Polynesian people of New Zealand. Maori traditional history describes their origins in terms of waves of migration from a mythical land between the 12th and 14th centuries, but archaeologists have dated habitations in New Zealand back to at least ad 800. Their first European contact was with Abel Janszoon Tasman (1642), who did battle with a group of Maori. Later Europeans were initially wel¬ comed, but the arrival of muskets, disease, Western agricultural methods, and missionaries corroded Maori culture and social structure, and con¬ flicts arose. The British assumed formal control of New Zealand in 1840; war over land broke out repeatedly over the next three decades. By 1872 all fighting had ended and great tracts of Maori land had been confis¬ cated. Today about 9% of New Zealanders are classified as Maori; nearly all have some European ancestry. Though largely integrated into modern urban life, many Maori keep alive traditional cultural practices and struggle to retain control of their ancestral lands.
map Graphic representation, drawn to scale and usually on a flat sur¬ face, of features—usually geographic, geologic, or geopolitical—of an area of the Earth or of any celestial body. Globes are maps represented on the surface of a sphere. Cartography is the art and science of making maps and charts. Major types of maps include topographic maps, show¬ ing features of the Earth’s land surface; nautical charts, representing coastal and marine areas; hydrographic charts, which detail ocean depths and currents; and aeronautical charts, which detail surface features and air routes.
Mapam, Lake Chinese Mapam Yumco Vma-.pam-'yum-koV or Ma-fa-mu-ts'o \ma-,fa-'mu-ts6\ conventional Manasarowar V.ma-na-sa-'ro-.warV Lake in the Himalayas, southwestern Tibet, China. Lying nearly 15,000 ft (4,570 m) above sea level, it is generally recognized as the highest body of fresh water in the world. It is prominent in Hindu mythology and is one of the most sacred places of pilgrimage for Hindus.