-
Mazyr (Belarus)
’, city and centre of Mozyr rayon (sector), Gomel oblast (province), Belarus. It is situated on the high bank of the Pripet River. The city dates from at least the 12th century, and from the 18th century it was a centre of trade and handicrafts. Mozyr was a woodworking centre in the early Soviet period but now also has important oil-refining, machine-building, and metalworking...
-
Mazzara (Italy)
town and episcopal see, Trapani provincia, western Sicily, Italy, at the mouth of the Mazaro River south of Trapani city. Of Phoenician origin, the town was later colonized by Greeks from nearby Selinus (modern Selinunte). It fell to the Carthaginians in 409 bc and subsequently to the Romans, Saracens, and ...
-
Mazzarello, Saint Mary (Italian saint)
...Sisters (formally, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians; F.M.A.) are one of the largest Roman Catholic religious congregations of women, founded in 1872 at Mornese, Italy, by St. John Bosco and St. Mary Mazzarello. Like their male counterparts, the sisters followed Don Bosco’s norms for education: reason, religion, and amiability and the employment of all that is humanly useful in ch...
-
Mazzarino, Giulio Raimondo (French cardinal and statesman)
first minister of France after Cardinal de Richelieu’s death in 1642. During the early years of King Louis XIV, he completed Richelieu’s work of establishing France’s supremacy among the European powers and crippling the opposition to the power of the monarchy at home....
-
Mazzarino, Pietro (father of cardinal Mazarin)
Born a papal subject at Pescina, in the Abruzzi, near Rome, Giulio Mazzarino spent his childhood in a region whose temperament, ways of thought, and Roman Catholic outlook were to permeate his whole existence. His father, Pietro, was a Romanized Sicilian in the household of the constable Filippo I Colonna; his mother, Ortensia Bufalini, of a noble Tuscan family, was related to the Colonna house......
-
Mazzei, Philip (Italian physician, merchant, and author)
Italian physician, merchant, and author, ardent supporter of the American Revolution, and correspondent of Thomas Jefferson....
-
maẓẓevah (Judaism)
a stone pillar erected on elevated ground beside a sacrificial altar. It was considered sacred to the god it symbolized and had a wooden pole (ashera) nearby to signify a goddess. After conquering the Canaanites, early Israelites used these symbols as their own until their use was outlawed as idolatrous (e.g., Deuteronomy 16:21)....
-
Mazzini, Giuseppe (Italian revolutionary)
Genoese propagandist and revolutionary, founder of the secret revolutionary society Young Italy (1832), and a champion of the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. An uncompromising republican, he refused to participate in the parliamentary government that was established under the monarchy of the House of Savoy when Italy became unified and independent (1861)....
-
Mazzola, Girolamo Francesco Maria (Italian artist)
Italian painter who was one of the first artists to develop the elegant and sophisticated version of Mannerist style that became a formative influence on the post-High Renaissance generation....
-
Mazzuchelli, Giovanni Maria (Italian author)
...Science), investigated the laws governing the progress of the human race and from the psychological study of man endeavoured to infer the laws by which civilizations rise, flourish, and fall. Giovanni Maria Mazzuchelli and Gerolamo Tiraboschi devoted themselves to literary history. Literary criticism also attracted attention; Gian Vincenzo Gravina, Vico, Maffei, Muratori, and sever...
-
Mazzuoli, Girolamo Francesco Maria (Italian artist)
Italian painter who was one of the first artists to develop the elegant and sophisticated version of Mannerist style that became a formative influence on the post-High Renaissance generation....
-
MB (aircraft)
...became one of the outstanding barnstorming flyers (from about 1910 to 1914) and used his experience to develop several successful types of military aircraft. The first Martin bomber, designated the MB, appeared in 1918–19, too late for active use in World War I, but its success in the hands of Colonel “Billy” Mitchell established Martin as one of the leading military airpla...
-
M’ba, Léon (president of Gabon)
first president of independent Gabon, whose regime, after an abortive 1964 coup, came to depend on French government and business support....
-
Mba, Léon (president of Gabon)
first president of independent Gabon, whose regime, after an abortive 1964 coup, came to depend on French government and business support....
-
Mbabane (Swaziland)
capital and largest town of Swaziland. Located in the Highveld of western Swaziland, Mbabane developed near the cattle kraal of the Swazi king Mbandzeni in the late 19th century. The actual town traces its foundation to 1902, when the British assumed control of Swaziland and established an administrative headquarters there. A railway link near Mbabane to Mozambique was established in 1964, primari...
-
Mbaga-Tuzinde, Saint (Ugandan saint)
...Athanasius Bazzekuketta and Gonzaga Gonza). All the survivors, as recorded by Father Lourdel, superior of the Roman Catholic mission to Uganda, were imprisoned for a week. With the exception of St. Mbaga-Tuzinde, who was bludgeoned by his own father, the pages were burned alive on June 3, 1886: Saints Ambrose Kibuka, Anatole Kiriggwajjo, Achilles Kiwanuka, Mugagga, Mukasa......
-
Mbala (people)
Mbala figures have three different types of faces: elongated, wide, and lozenge-shaped. The features (especially the forehead and chin) project forcefully, and the head is surmounted by a crestlike coiffure. Mbala mother-and-child figures are much more powerfully rigid in style than others in the Congo region....
-
Mbale (Uganda)
town, southeastern Uganda. It lies at the western foot of the extinct volcano Mount Elgon, 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Jinja. Located in a fertile coffee-growing region, Mbale is an agricultural (cotton, bananas, vegetables, grain) trade centre and the site of one of Uganda’s principal dairies. The town is the terminus for an improved road offering a...
-
Mbalmayo (Cameroon)
town, south-central Cameroon. It lies along the Nyong River south of Yaoundé. Located within the forest zone, it has a major plywood factory, powered by electricity from the hydroelectric complex at Edéa. It is also a commercial centre because of its position at the junction of three transportation routes: it lies on the main r...
-
Mbandaka (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
city, northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies on the equator about 435 miles (700 km) northeast of Kinshasa, the national capital. It was a colonial administrative centre from 1886. It is now a busy river port situated at the junction of the Congo and Ruki rivers midway on the Kinshasa-Kisangani shipping route. In addition to shipping, Mbandaka’s economic a...
-
Mbanderu (people)
a group of closely related Bantu-speaking peoples of southwestern Africa. The Herero proper and a segment known as the Mbanderu inhabit parts of central Namibia and Botswana; other related groups, such as the Himba, inhabit the Kaokoveld area of Namibia and parts of southern Angola....
-
Mbandzeni (king of Swaziland)
...force was the stream into the country of European prospectors and concession hunters, which the Swazi were able to contain for a while but which became a flood after the kingship passed to Mbandzeni in 1875. By 1890 so many concessions had been granted for so many purposes (in addition to land and mineral rights) that practically the whole country was covered two, three, or even four......
-
Mbangala (people)
a warrior group of central Angola that emerged in the late 16th century. In older sources, the Imbangala are sometimes referred to as Jaga, a generic name for several bands of freebooting mercenary soldiers in the 17th through 19th centuries. The Imbangala probably originated in the central highlands of present-day Angola and were characterized by their ruthlessness and cannibal...
-
M’banza Congo (Angola)
city, northwestern Angola. It is situated on a low plateau about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Nóqui, which is the nearest point on the Congo River. Originally known as Mbanza Kongo, it was the capital of the Kongo kingdom from about 1390 until 1914, when the kingdom was broken up and absorbed into the Portuguese colony of Angola. T...
-
Mbanza Kongo (Angola)
city, northwestern Angola. It is situated on a low plateau about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Nóqui, which is the nearest point on the Congo River. Originally known as Mbanza Kongo, it was the capital of the Kongo kingdom from about 1390 until 1914, when the kingdom was broken up and absorbed into the Portuguese colony of Angola. T...
-
M’banza Kongo (Angola)
city, northwestern Angola. It is situated on a low plateau about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Nóqui, which is the nearest point on the Congo River. Originally known as Mbanza Kongo, it was the capital of the Kongo kingdom from about 1390 until 1914, when the kingdom was broken up and absorbed into the Portuguese colony of Angola. T...
-
Mbaracayú Mountains (mountain range, South America)
...Highlands, the configuration of which determines its course. Just before it begins to run along the frontier between Brazil to the east and Paraguay to the west, the river has to cut through the Serra de Maracaju (Mbaracuyú), which in the past had the effect of a dam, until the Itaipu hydroelectric dam project was completed there in 1982; the river once expanded its bed into a lake......
-
Mbarara (Uganda)
town, southwestern Uganda. It is located at an elevation of about 4,850 feet (1,480 metres), at a point 167 miles (270 km) southwest of Kampala, and is linked by road with Kikagati, Bushenyi, and Masaka. The town is situated in a forest region and is known for its crafts, including wood carving, pottery making, and weaving. Industries produce textiles, soap, oils and fats, bever...
-
mbari (kinship group)
...of security. The economic advantages of village settlement and land consolidation led many Kikuyu to continue this arrangement after the emergency was ended. The local community unit is the mbari, a patrilineal group of males and their wives and children ranging from a few dozen to several hundred persons. Beyond the mbari, the people are divided among nine clans and a number......
-
mbari (religious architecture)
...common, though, like the fetish house of the Asante, with its rooms for orchestra and officiating priest, these may be similar to the dwelling compound. A more notable structure is the elaborate mbari house of the Owerri Igbo of Nigeria. A large open-sided shelter, square in plan, it houses many life-sized, painted figures sculpted in mud and intended to placate the figure of Ala, the......
-
Mbari Mbayo Club (African arts club)
club established for African writers, artists, and musicians at Ibadan and Oshogbo in Nigeria. The first Mbari Club was founded in Ibadan in 1961 by a group of young writers with the help of Ulli Beier, a teacher at the University of Ibadan. Mbari, an Igbo (Ibo) word for “creation,” ...
-
Mbatian (Masai ruler)
...of Rift Valley lakes west of Mount Kenya. From 1830 onward their various subtribes were engaged, under the auspices of their rival laibons, or ritual leaders—among whom Mbatian, who succeeded his father, Subet, in 1866, was the most famous—in a succession of internecine conflicts largely over cattle and grazing grounds. Their wars denuded the Laikipia and......
-
Mbayá (people)
South American Indians of the Argentine, Paraguayan, and Brazilian Chaco, speakers of a Guaycuruan language. At their peak of expansion, they lived throughout the area between the Bermejo and Pilcomayo rivers in the eastern Chaco. At one time nomadic hunters and gatherers, the Mbayá became feared warlike horsemen shortly after they encountered the Spanish and their horses....
-
M’bboygi (Brazil)
city, southeastern São Paulo estado (state), southeastern Brazil. It lies at 2,493 feet (760 metres) above sea level on the Tietê River, just east of São Paulo city. Formerly known as M’bboygi and Santana das Cruzes de Mogi Mirim, it gained town status in 1611 and was made the seat of a municipality in 1855....
-
MBD (pathology)
...physicians began to classify as “mentally deficient” individuals who had difficulty paying attention on demand. Various terms were coined to describe this behaviour, among them minimal brain damage and hyperkinesis. In 1980 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) replaced these terms with attention deficit disorder (ADD). Then in 1987 the APA linked ADD......
-
MBE (materials science)
Even more precise control over the deposition of thin films can be achieved by molecular beam epitaxy, or MBE. In this technique molecular beams are directed at and react with other molecular beams at the substrate surface to produce atomic layer-by-layer deposition of the ceramic. Epitaxy (in which the crystallinity of the growing thin film matches that of the substrate) can often be achieved.......
-
Mbei River (river, Gabon)
waterfall and site of a hydroelectric complex on the Mbei River of Gabon. Kinguélé is situated near Kango and is about 95 miles (150 km) by road east of Libreville, the national capital. There are actually two sets of waterfalls. The upper Kinguélé falls drop a total of 115 feet (35 m) in three consecutive leaps. The larger, lower falls drop 148 feet (45 m). Below......
-
Mbeki, Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa (South African nationalist)
South African nationalist (b. July 9, 1910, Nqamakwe, S.Af.—d. Aug. 30, 2001, Port Elizabeth, S.Af.), as a teacher, writer, labour organizer, and editor of the leftist newspaper New Age, was in the vanguard of the antiapartheid struggle against the South African government. Mbeki joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1935 and rose to become national chairman in 1956. Arrested...
-
Mbeki, Thabo (president of South Africa)
politician who served as the president of South Africa (1999–2008)....
-
Mbembe (people)
group of peoples living along the middle Cross River in Nigeria. Numbering about 100,000 in the late 20th century, they speak a language of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family....
-
mbila sansa (musical instrument)
African musical instrument consisting of a set of tuned metal or bamboo tongues (lamellae) of varying length attached at one end to a soundboard that often has a box or calabash resonator. Board-mounted lamellaphones are often played inside gourds or bowls for increased resonance, and the timbre may be modified by attaching rattling devices to the board or resonator or by attaching metal cuffs at ...
-
Mbini (province, Equatorial Guinea)
country located on the west coast of Africa. It consists of Río Muni (also called Mbini), on the continent, and five islands: Bioko (formerly Fernando Po), Corisco, Great Elobey (Elobey Grande), Little Elobey (Elobey Chico), and Annobón. The capital of the republic is Malabo on Bioko. Bata is the administrative capital of the mainland....
-
mbira (musical instrument)
African musical instrument consisting of a set of tuned metal or bamboo tongues (lamellae) of varying length attached at one end to a soundboard that often has a box or calabash resonator. Board-mounted lamellaphones are often played inside gourds or bowls for increased resonance, and the timbre may be modified by attaching rattling devices to the board or resonator or by attaching metal cuffs at ...
-
mbis pole (religious carving)
carved wooden pole used in religious rites of the South Pacific Islands. Bisj poles are occasionally found in North America, but they are more common in New Zealand, Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides), and especially the Asmat area in southwestern (Indonesian) New Guinea and along the Casuarinan coast. The design of the poles—which range from 12 to 26 feet (3.7 to 7.9 m) in height a...
-
MBNA (American company)
...Center Development Act, which was designed to attract credit-card banking to the state. Several large banks took advantage of this opportunity, but the most prominent credit-card lender was MBNA, which had become the state’s largest commercial employer by the beginning of the 21st century; shortly thereafter, MBNA merged with Bank of America....
-
Mbomou River (river, Central African Republic)
in the Central African Republic, headstream of the Ubangi River. The Bomu River rises 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Doruma, Congo (Kinshasa), and flows 450 miles (725 km) west, forming, together with the Ubangi, the frontier between Congo and the Central African Republic. Its course takes it in a wide curve through savannas, past Bangassou, to join the Uele River at Yakoma, where it forms the Uban...
-
Mboya, Thomas Joseph (Kenyan politician)
major political leader in Kenya until his assassination six years after his country had achieved independence....
-
Mboya, Tom (Kenyan politician)
major political leader in Kenya until his assassination six years after his country had achieved independence....
-
MBT (chemical compound)
...Despite its toxicity, aniline was used as an accelerator for several years. Thiocarbanilide, less poisonous than aniline, succeeded it as the most important accelerator until it was displaced by mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) about 1925. Compounds related to MBT have proved especially useful in vulcanizing synthetic rubbers....
-
MBT-70 (tank)
...provide tanks with a combination of the armour-piercing capabilities of large shaped-charge warheads with the high accuracy at long range of guided missiles. The U.S. M60A2 and the U.S.-West German MBT-70 were armed with 152-millimetre gun/launchers firing Shillelagh guided antitank missiles, and the AMX-30 was armed experimentally with the 142-millimetre ACRA gun/launcher. But the high cost,.....
-
Mbuji-Mayi (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
city, south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is situated on the Mbuji-Mayi River. It was developed by Europeans as a mining town after diamonds were found in the area in 1909. The region in which Mbuji-Mayi is situated annually produces one-tenth in weight of the world’s industrial diamonds, with mining managed by the Société Minière de Ba...
-
mbulu-ngulu (African art)
tomb figure of carved wood covered with a sheet of copper or brass, created by the Kota tribe of Gabon, Africa, to protect the dead. Its traditional function, as a guardian figure standing against a wall, had a direct influence upon its form....
-
Mbum (people)
In the wet and dry tropical zone, the Sara group forms a significant element of the population in the central parts of the Chari and Logone river basins. The Laka and Mbum peoples live to the west of the Sara groups and, like the Gula and Tumak of the Goundi area, are culturally distinct from their Sara neighbours. Along the banks of the Chari and Logone rivers, and in the region between the......
-
Mbundu (people)
second largest ethnolinguistic group of Angola, comprising a diversity of peoples who speak Kimbundu, a Bantu language. Numbering about 2,420,000 in the late 20th century, they occupy much of north-central Angola and live in the area from the coastal national capital of Luanda eastward, between the Dande (north) and Kwanza (Cuanza; south) rivers. They are distinct from the more ...
-
Mbuti (Pygmy groups)
a group of Pygmies of the Ituri Forest of eastern Congo (Kinshasa). They are the shortest group of Pygmies in Africa, averaging under 4 feet 6 inches (137 cm) in height, and are perhaps the most famous. In addition to their stature, they also differ in blood type from their Bantu- and Sudanic-speaking agriculturalist neighbours, and they are probably the earli...
-
Mbuti (Pygmy group)
...in the northwest. The Efe have the broadest distribution, extending across the northern and eastern portions of the Ituri, and are associated with the Sudanic-speaking Mamvu and Lese (Walese). The Mbuti live with the Bila (Babila) in the centre of the forest....
-
Mbwila, Battle of (African history)
...country seized portions of Angola from 1641 to 1648. Further disputes between Kongo and Portugal over joint claims in the region led to skirmishes in the small district of Mbwila, culminating in the Battle of Mbwila (or Ulanga) on Oct. 29, 1665. The Portuguese were victorious and killed the reigning manikongo, António I Nvita a Nkanga, during the.....
-
MC5, the (American rock group)
American rock group, one of the most controversial and ultimately influential bands of the late 1960s. The principal members were Rob Tyner (original name Robert Derminer; b. Dec. 12, 1944Detroit, Mich., U.S.— d. Sept. 17, 1991Royal Oak, Mich.),...
-
MCA (political party, Malaysia)
Promising independence, British officials commenced negotiations with the various ethnic leaders, including those of UMNO and the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), formed in 1949 by wealthy Chinese businessmen. A coalition consisting of UMNO (led by the aristocratic moderate Tunku Abdul Rahman), MCA, and the Malayan Indian Congress contested the national legislative elections held in 1955 and......
-
MCAD (pathology)
Children with medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCAD) appear completely normal, unless they fast for a prolonged period or are faced by other metabolically stressful conditions, such as a severe viral illness. During periods of metabolic stress, affected individuals may develop hypoglycemia, lethargy, vomiting, seizures, and liver dysfunction. Intravenous hydration and glucose......
-
McAdam, John Loudon (British inventor)
Scottish inventor of the macadam road surface....
-
McAdoo, William G. (American politician)
U.S. secretary of the treasury (1913–18), a founder and chairman (1914) of the Federal Reserve Board, and director general of the U.S. railroads during and shortly after World War I (1917–19). He directed four fund-raising drives that raised $18,000,000,000 to help finance the Allied war effort....
-
McAdoo, William Gibbs (American politician)
U.S. secretary of the treasury (1913–18), a founder and chairman (1914) of the Federal Reserve Board, and director general of the U.S. railroads during and shortly after World War I (1917–19). He directed four fund-raising drives that raised $18,000,000,000 to help finance the Allied war effort....
-
McAleese, Mary (president of Ireland)
president of Ireland from 1997....
-
McAlester (Oklahoma, United States)
city, seat (1907) of Pittsburg county, southeastern Oklahoma, U.S., south of Eufaula Reservoir and Dam and the South Canadian River. It originated as a trading post, built in 1870 by James McAlester (later lieutenant governor of the state) in Choctaw territory at the intersection of the Texas and California trails. The arrival of the railroad in 1872 stimulate...
-
McAlister, R. E. (American evangelist)
In 1913 a new doctrine challenged the consensus theology that Pentecostals had inherited from their Protestant forebears. R.E. McAlister, following the formula for baptism found in Acts of the Apostles rather than that in The Gospel According to Matthew, taught that water baptism in the early church was not done according to the familiar Trinitarian formula (i.e., in the name of the Father, the......
-
McAllen (Texas, United States)
city, Hidalgo county, southern Texas, U.S., in the irrigated lower Rio Grande valley, 7 miles (11 km) from the International Bridge to Reynosa, Mexico, and some 50 miles (80 km) west-northwest of Brownsville. With Edinburg and Pharr, McAllen forms a metropolitan complex. Founded in 1905, it was named for...
-
McAllister, Samuel Ward (American lawyer)
U.S. lawyer and social leader who originated the phrase “the Four Hundred” to designate New York City’s society leaders. McAllister was shortening an invitation list for Mrs. William Astor when he boasted, in 1892, that there were “only about 400 people in New York society.” The phrase quickly became a popular idiom....
-
McAllister, Ward (American lawyer)
U.S. lawyer and social leader who originated the phrase “the Four Hundred” to designate New York City’s society leaders. McAllister was shortening an invitation list for Mrs. William Astor when he boasted, in 1892, that there were “only about 400 people in New York society.” The phrase quickly became a popular idiom....
-
McAllister’s Folly (Pennsylvania, United States)
borough (town), York county, southern Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies in the Conewago Creek valley, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of York. Laid out in 1763 by Colonel Richard McAllister, it was incorporated as a borough in 1815 and named for Hanover, Germany. Earlier it had been known as McAllistertown. Later it was called Rogue’s Roost, and Rogue’s Harb...
-
McAlmon, Robert (American author)
American author and publisher and an exemplar of the literary expatriate in Paris during the 1920s. Many of his short stories, however, are based on his own youthful experiences living in small South Dakota towns....
-
McAlmon, Robert Menzies (American author)
American author and publisher and an exemplar of the literary expatriate in Paris during the 1920s. Many of his short stories, however, are based on his own youthful experiences living in small South Dakota towns....
-
McArdle, Brian (scientist)
In 1951 British physician Brian McArdle discovered a disorder of muscle that caused cramplike pains yet was not associated with the normal production of lactic acid from exercise. The defect was later identified as an absence of phosphorylase, the enzyme involved in the first step in the splitting off of the glucose-1-phosphate units from glycogen. Since blood-borne glucose can still be used to......
-
McArdle’s disease (pathology)
rare hereditary deficiency of the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase in muscle cells. In the absence of this enzyme, muscles cannot break down animal starch (glycogen) to meet the energy requirements of exercise. Muscle activity is thus solely dependent on the availability of glucose (blood sugar) and other nutrients in the circulating blood. Victims of McArdle’s disease are chronically weak bec...
-
McArthur River (river, Northern Territory, Australia)
river in northeastern Northern Territory, Australia, rising about 45 miles (70 km) south of Anthony Lagoon, along the scarp that marks the northern edge of the Barkly Tableland, and flowing northwest for 150 miles (240 km) across rugged country to Port McArthur on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Swamp and jungle border its lower course, which is navigable by barge for 40 miles (64 km)....
-
M’Carthy, Justin (Irish historian)
Irish politician and historian who first made his name as a novelist with such successes as Dear Lady Disdain (1875) and Miss Misanthrope (1878) but then published his History of Our Own Times (1879–1905), which won general recognition....
-
M’Carthy, Sir Charles (British official)
Serving with the British army in Sierra Leone (1822), Laing was sent among the Mande people of the region by the governor, Charles (later Sir Charles) M’Carthy, to attempt to develop trade in goods and to abolish that in slaves. He also visited the capital of the Susu people, Falaba, now in Sierra Leone. In 1823–24 Laing fought in the war between the British and the Asante empire and...
-
McAuley, Catherine Elizabeth (Roman Catholic nun)
founder of the Religious Sisters of Mercy (R.S.M.), a congregation of nuns engaged in education and social service....
-
McAuley, James Phillip (Australian poet)
Australian poet noted for his classical approach, great technical skill, and academic point of view....
-
McAuliffe, Anthony C. (United States general)
U.S. Army general who commanded the force defending Bastogne, Belgium, in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944) during World War II....
-
McAuliffe, Anthony Clement (United States general)
U.S. Army general who commanded the force defending Bastogne, Belgium, in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944) during World War II....
-
McAuliffe, Christa Corrigan (American educator)
American teacher who was chosen to be the first private citizen in space. The death of McAuliffe and her fellow crew members in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster was deeply felt by the nation and had a strong effect on the U.S. space program....
-
McBain, Ed (American author)
prolific American writer of best-selling fiction, of which more than 50 books are crime stories published under the pseudonym Ed McBain....
-
McBrayer, Staley Thomas (American publisher)
American newspaper publisher (b. June 22, 1909, Saltillo, Texas—d. April 14, 2002, Fort Worth, Texas), led a team of colleagues in adapting the offset printing press for use in newspaper printing, a cost-saving innovation that revolutionized the industry....
-
McBride, Mary Margaret (American journalist and broadcaster)
American journalist and broadcaster, perhaps best remembered for the warm, down-home personality she projected on her highly popular long-running radio program....
-
McBride, Patricia (American dancer)
American ballerina, best known for her performances with the New York City Ballet....
-
McBride, Sir Richard (Canadian statesman)
statesman who was premier of British Columbia from 1903 to 1915....
-
MCC (British sports organization)
former governing body of cricket, founded in London in 1787. Marylebone soon became the leading cricket club in England and, eventually, the world authority on laws. The MCC headquarters are at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. The Cricket Council is now the final arbiter in England, as are boards of control in other countries, with the International Cricket Conference exe...
-
MCCA
association of five Central American nations that was formed to facilitate regional economic development through free trade and economic integration. Established by the General Treaty on Central American Economic Integration signed by Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in December 1960, its ...
-
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (film by Altman)
...Altman stocks-in-trade. Brewster McCloud (also 1969) was an eccentric fantasy on human flight, set in the Houston Astrodome. The critically acclaimed McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) was called an antiwestern for its irreverent portrait of life in a frontier boomtown....
-
McCain, Cindy (American businesswoman and humanitarian)
American businesswoman and humanitarian and the wife of U.S. senator and two-time Republican presidential candidate John McCain....
-
McCain, Donald (British horse trainer)
Bought as a crippled seven-year-old, he was reconditioned by his trainer Ginger McCain who ran him on the sand and in the sea. In 1973, ridden by Brian Fletcher, Red Rum won his first Grand National by spurting ahead in the last 100 yards of the course to pass Crisp, who had held the lead during most of the race, and beating him by 34 length in the record time......
-
McCain, Harrison (Canadian businessman)
Canadian entrepreneur (b. Nov. 3, 1927, Florenceville, N.B.—d. March 18, 2004, Boston, Mass.), launched (1956) McCain Foods Ltd. (with his brother Wallace), which grew steadily under his leadership to become the world’s leading supplier of frozen, oven-ready French fries. McCain’s driving force behind the business catapulted it from a rural 30-person operation headquartered in...
-
McCain, John (American politician)
U.S. senator who was the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2008. On Nov. 4, 2008, he was defeated by Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate. McCain represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives (1983–87) before being elected to the U.S. Senate (1987– ). A self-described conservative “foot soldier in the ...
-
McCain, John Sidney, III (American politician)
U.S. senator who was the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2008. On Nov. 4, 2008, he was defeated by Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate. McCain represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives (1983–87) before being elected to the U.S. Senate (1987– ). A self-described conservative “foot soldier in the ...
-
McCain/Palin (United States government)
On November 4, 2008, after a campaign that lasted nearly two years, Americans elected Illinois senator Barack Obama their 44th president. The result was historic, as Obama, a first-term U.S. senator, is set to become, when he is inaugurated January 20, 2009, the country’s first African American president. He also was to become the first sitting U.S. senator to win electio...
-
McCain vs. Obama (United States government)
On November 4, 2008, after a campaign that lasted nearly two years, Americans elected Illinois senator Barack Obama their 44th president. The result was historic, as Obama, a first-term U.S. senator, is set to become, when he is inaugurated January 20, 2009, the country’s first African American president. He also was to become the first sitting U.S. senator to win electio...
-
McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (United States [2002])
Concerns about campaign financing led to the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (popularly called the “McCain-Feingold law” for its two chief sponsors in the Senate, Republican John McCain and Democrat Russell Feingold), which banned national political parties from raising soft money. The law also increased the amount individuals could contribute to candidates......
-
McCall Glacier (glacier, Brooks Range, Alaska, United States)
...areas the dry-snow zone occurs. Because of the decrease in melt rates, continental glaciers in high latitudes occur at lower altitudes and have lower accumulation totals and activity indices. McCall Glacier, in the northwestern part of the Brooks Range in Alaska, has the lowest activity index (two millimetres per metre) measured in western North America. Glaciers in intermediate climates......
-
McCall, Jack (American criminal)
...to visit the goldfields of the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory. It was there, at a poker table in Nuttall & Mann’s No. 10 saloon in Deadwood, that Hickok was shot dead by a drunken stranger, Jack McCall. The cards Hickok was holding—a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights plus an unknown fifth card—became known as the dead man’s hand. McCall...
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.