• Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Convention on the Conservation of (international agreement)

    endangered species: …conservation agreements, such as the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), are connected to species-assessment systems. One of the most-recognized independent international systems of species assessment is the Red List…

  • Miguel (king of Portugal)

    Michael was the younger son of King John VI of Portugal, regent of Portugal from February 1828 and self-proclaimed king from July 1828 to 1834, though his royal title was not everywhere recognized. Michael went with the rest of the royal family to Brazil in 1807, escaping from Napoleon’s armies,

  • Miguel, Edward (American economist)

    Michael Kremer: …Kremer and the American economist Edward Miguel conducted an experiment in 1998–2001 that showed that demand for deworming pills among poor families in Kenya was (understandably) extremely sensitive to price: 75 percent of parents obtained deworming pills for their children when the medicine was made available (in primary schools) for…

  • Miguelite Wars (Portuguese history)

    Quadruple Alliance: …Glória by intervening in the Miguelite Wars (1828–34) and expelling the reactionary Dom Miguel from Portugal. The cooperation between France and Britain in the affairs of the Iberian Peninsula broke down in 1846, when Isabella and her sister, Luisa, married French princes (see Spanish Marriages, Affair of the).

  • Miguna, Miguna (Kenyan author)

    Kenya: 2017 elections, annulment of presidential election results, and fresh election: …members were indeed arrested, including Miguna Miguna—a leader in the NRM—who was charged with having committed treason-related offenses for his participation in the January 30 ceremony.

  • Mihăieşti (Romania)

    Argeș: …lignite are mined north of Mihăiești, and salt mines, located near Apa Sărată, were worked from the Roman occupation until the 12th century. A hydroelectric dam, measuring about 541 feet (165 m) high and 1,007 feet (307 m) long impounds Lake Vidraru. Curtea de Argeș town has a 16th-century church…

  • Mihailovgrad (Bulgaria)

    Montana, town, northwestern Bulgaria. It lies along the Ogosta River in a fertile agricultural region noted for its grains, fruits, vines, market-garden produce, and livestock breeding. Relatively new housing estates as well as industry are evident in the town. In the region are forests and game

  • Mihailović, Dragoljub (Yugoslavian resistance leader)

    Dragoljub Mihailović was an army officer and head of the royalist Yugoslav underground army, known as the Chetniks, during World War II. Having fought in the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and World War I, Mihailović, a colonel at the time of Germany’s invasion of Yugoslavia (April 1941), refused to

  • Mihajlovgrad (Bulgaria)

    Montana, town, northwestern Bulgaria. It lies along the Ogosta River in a fertile agricultural region noted for its grains, fruits, vines, market-garden produce, and livestock breeding. Relatively new housing estates as well as industry are evident in the town. In the region are forests and game

  • Mihajlović, Dragoljub (Yugoslavian resistance leader)

    Dragoljub Mihailović was an army officer and head of the royalist Yugoslav underground army, known as the Chetniks, during World War II. Having fought in the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and World War I, Mihailović, a colonel at the time of Germany’s invasion of Yugoslavia (April 1941), refused to

  • Mihalache, Ion (Romanian statesman)

    Ion Mihalache was a Romanian statesman and popular political leader and founder of the Peasant Party. In 1918 Mihalache formed the Peasant Party of the old Regat (Moldavia and Walachia); the party had much success in the elections of November 1919. While he was minister of agriculture in the

  • Mihaly, Count Károlyi von Nagykárolyi (Hungarian statesman)

    Mihály, Count Károlyi was a Hungarian statesman who before World War I desired a reorientation of Austro-Hungarian foreign policy toward friendship with states other than Germany. He also advocated concessions to Hungary’s non-Magyar subjects. After the war, as president of the Hungarian Democratic

  • Mihara (Japan)

    Mihara, city, Hiroshima ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. It is located on the mouth of the Nuta River, at the Bingo Channel of the Inland Sea. The city grew around Mihara Castle (1582), and in the 17th century large tracts of land in the locality were brought under cultivation. Mihara has

  • Mihaylovski, S. (Bulgarian author)

    Bulgarian literature: In satire, fable, and epigram, S. Mihaylovski with unrelenting bitterness castigated corruption in public life. His most ambitious satire, Kniga za bulgarskia narod (1897; “Book on the Bulgarian People”), took the form of a moral-philosophical allegory. In a lighter vein, Aleko Konstantinov created in Bay Ganyu (1895; subtitled “Incredible Tales…

  • Mihdhar, Khalid al- (terrorist)

    September 11 attacks: The September 11 commission and its findings: …al-Qaeda militants Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. The CIA had been tracking Hazmi and Mihdhar since they attended a terrorist summit meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on January 5, 2000. The failure to watch-list the two al-Qaeda suspects with the Department of State meant that they entered the United States…

  • Mihintale (peak, Sri Lanka)

    Mihintale, isolated peak (1,019 feet [311 metres]) in Sri Lanka, a centre for Buddhist pilgrimages because of various shrines along the ascent. The peak is approximately 8 miles (13 km) east of Anuradhapura. A town and a forest reserve also named Mihintale are

  • Mihira (Indian philosopher and scientist)

    Varahamihira was an Indian philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, author of the Pancha-siddhantika (“Five Treatises”), a compendium of Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Indian astronomy. Varahamihira’s knowledge of Western astronomy was thorough. In five sections, his monumental work progresses

  • Mihirakula (Huna king)

    Mihirakula was the second and final Huna (Hun) king of India, son of Toramana, the first Huna king there. Inscriptions belonging to Mihirakula’s and his father’s reigns have been found as far south as Eran (near present-day Sagar, Madhya Pradesh state). A patron of Shaivism (worship of the Hindu

  • miḥnah (Islamic history)

    miḥnah, any of the Islāmic courts of inquiry established about ad 833 by the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Maʾmūn (reigned 813–833) to impose the Muʿtazilite doctrine of a created Qurʾān (Islāmic sacred scripture) on his subjects. The Muʿtazilites, a Muslim theological sect influenced by the rationalist

  • Mihnetkeşan (work by İzzet Molla)

    Turkish literature: Movements and poets: …more mature form in the Mihnetkeşan (1823–24) of Keçecizade İzzet Molla, who wrote a humorous autobiographical mesnevî that has been hailed by some as the first work of modern Ottoman literature. Unique in Ottoman literature, the tale has no purpose other than to describe the author’s trials and misfortunes as…

  • Mihr (Iranian god)

    Mithra, in ancient Indo-Iranian mythology, the god of light, whose cult spread from India in the east to as far west as Spain, Great Britain, and Germany. (See Mithraism.) The first written mention of the Vedic Mitra dates to 1400 bc. His worship spread to Persia and, after the defeat of the

  • Mihr-Naresh (Sāsānian minister)

    Bahrām V: …was apparently also supported by Mihr-Naresh, chief minister of Yazdegerd’s last years, to whom Bahrām later delegated much of the governmental administration.

  • mihrab (Islamic architecture)

    mihrab, prayer niche in the qiblah wall (that facing Mecca) of a mosque; mihrabs vary in size but are usually ornately decorated. The mihrab originated in the reign of the Umayyad prince al-Walīd I (705–715), during which time the famous mosques at Medina, Jerusalem, and Damascus were built. The

  • miḥrāb (Islamic architecture)

    mihrab, prayer niche in the qiblah wall (that facing Mecca) of a mosque; mihrabs vary in size but are usually ornately decorated. The mihrab originated in the reign of the Umayyad prince al-Walīd I (705–715), during which time the famous mosques at Medina, Jerusalem, and Damascus were built. The

  • Mihragan (Zoroastrianism)

    ancient Iran: Zoroastrianism: …and on the day of Mihragan (the 16th day of the seventh month), the sacred fire was displayed to the faithful (wehden) at nightfall from some vantage point. Under the Sāsānians the injunction not to pollute the earth by contact with corpses but to expose the dead on mountaintops to…

  • Mijikenda (people)

    Nyika, any of several Northeast Bantu-speaking peoples including the Digo, who live along the coast of Kenya and Tanzania south from Mombasa to Pangani; the Giryama, who live north of Mombasa; and the Duruma, Jibana, Rabai, Ribe, Chonyi, Kaura, and Kambe, who live in the arid bush steppe (Swahili:

  • Mijin hayerên (language)

    Armenian language: …Armenian (Grabar), Middle Armenian (Miǰin hayerên), and Modern Armenian, or Ašxarhabar (Ashkharhabar). Modern Armenian embraces two written varieties—Western Armenian (Arewmtahayerên) and Eastern Armenian (Arewelahayerên)—and many dialects are spoken. About 50 dialects were known before 1915, when the Armenian population of Turkey was drastically reduced by means of massacre and…

  • Miju (people)

    Mishmi: …divided into two groups, the Miju on the upper Luhit and the Digaru on that river’s lower reaches.

  • Mikado, The (opera by Gilbert and Sullivan)

    The Mikado, operetta in two acts by W.S. Gilbert (libretto) and Sir Arthur Sullivan (music) that premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London on March 14, 1885. The work was a triumph from the beginning. Its initial production ran for 672 performances, and within a year some 150 other companies were

  • Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, The (opera by Gilbert and Sullivan)

    The Mikado, operetta in two acts by W.S. Gilbert (libretto) and Sir Arthur Sullivan (music) that premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London on March 14, 1885. The work was a triumph from the beginning. Its initial production ran for 672 performances, and within a year some 150 other companies were

  • Mikael Sehul (regent of Ethiopia)

    Mikael Sehul was a nobleman who ruled Ethiopia for a period of 25 years as regent of a series of weak emperors. He brought to an end the ancient Solomonid dynasty of Ethiopia, which had ruled for 27 centuries, and began a long period of political unrest. In the reign of Iyoas (1755–69), son of the

  • Mīkael, Kabbada (Ethiopian dramatist)

    African literature: Ethiopian: Kabbada Mika’el became a significant playwright, biographer, and historian. Other writers also dealt with the conflict between the old and the new, with issues of social justice, and with political problems. Central themes in post-World War II Amharic literature are the relationship between humans and…

  • mikagura (Shinto music)

    Japanese music: Shintō music: …imperial palace grounds is called mi-kagura; that in large Shintō shrines, o-kagura; and Shintō music for local shrines, sato-kagura. The suzu bell tree, mentioned before as among the earliest-known Japanese instruments, is found in all such events; and the equally ancient wagon zither can be heard in the palace rituals…

  • Mīkāl (archangel)

    Michael, in the Bible and in the Qurʾān (as Mīkāl), one of the archangels. He is repeatedly depicted as the “great captain,” the leader of the heavenly hosts, and the warrior helping the children of Israel. Early in the history of the Christian church he came to be regarded as the helper of the

  • Mikal (ancient god)

    Resheph, ancient West Semitic god of the plague and of the underworld, the companion of Anath, and the equivalent of the Babylonian god Nergal. He was also a war god and was thus represented as a bearded man brandishing an ax, holding a shield, and wearing a tall, pointed headdress with a goat’s or

  • Mīkāl (Islam)

    Mīkāl, in Islam, archangel said to effectuate God’s rizq (providence) as well as natural phenomena, such as rain, and who is often paired with Jibrīl. In Muslim legend, Mīkāl and Jibrīl were the first angels to obey God’s order to prostrate oneself before Adam. The two are further credited with

  • Mikan, George (American basketball player)

    George Mikan was an American professional basketball player and executive who was selected in an Associated Press poll in 1950 as the greatest basketball player of the first half of the 20th century. Standing about 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 metres), he was the first of the outstanding big men in the

  • Mikan, George Lawrence (American basketball player)

    George Mikan was an American professional basketball player and executive who was selected in an Associated Press poll in 1950 as the greatest basketball player of the first half of the 20th century. Standing about 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 metres), he was the first of the outstanding big men in the

  • Mikati, Najib (prime minister of Lebanon)

    Najib Mikati is one of the wealthiest businessmen in Lebanon, known especially for his role in building telecommunications infrastructure after the Lebanese Civil War, and a three-time prime minister (2005, 2011–14, and 2021–25) who was appointed during some of the most tense and polarizing moments

  • Mikawachi porcelain (Japanese pottery)

    Mikawachi porcelain, Japanese porcelain of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) from the kilns at Mikawachi on the island of Hirado, Hizen province, now in Nagasaki prefecture. Although the kilns were established by Korean potters in the 17th century, it was not until 1751, when they came under the

  • Mīkāʾīl (Islam)

    Mīkāl, in Islam, archangel said to effectuate God’s rizq (providence) as well as natural phenomena, such as rain, and who is often paired with Jibrīl. In Muslim legend, Mīkāl and Jibrīl were the first angels to obey God’s order to prostrate oneself before Adam. The two are further credited with

  • Mike (thermonuclear device)

    nuclear weapon: The weapons are tested: …the device used in the Mike test. The device weighed 82 tons, in part because of cryogenic (low-temperature) refrigeration equipment necessary to keep the deuterium in liquid form. It was successfully detonated during Operation Ivy, on November 1, 1952, at Enewetak. The explosion achieved a yield of 10.4 megatons (million…

  • Mike & Molly (American television series)

    Chuck Lorre: Later career: Among Lorre’s later productions are Mike & Molly (2010–16), about a man and a woman (Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell) who meet at a Chicago Overeaters Anonymous group and eventually marry; Disjointed (2017–18), starring Kathy Bates as the owner of a marijuana dispensary; Mom (2013–21), featuring Allison Janney

  • Mike D (American musician and rapper)

    Beastie Boys: …4, 2012, New York City), Mike D (byname of Michael Diamond; b. November 20, 1965, New York City), and Adrock (byname of Adam Horovitz; b. October 31, 1966, South Orange, New Jersey).

  • Mike Douglas Show, The (American television program)

    Roger Ailes: …assistant for the Cleveland-based program The Mike Douglas Show. By 1965 he was working as a producer for the show, and in 1967–68 he served as executive producer, receiving an Emmy Award for his work both years. It was during his tenure as executive producer that he met Republican presidential…

  • Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus (American television series)

    Mike Judge: He later cocreated Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus (2017–18), a documentary series about musicians that included animated interviews and reenactments as well as performance footage.

  • Mike Nichols in 1965

    The following biography appeared in the Britannica Book of the Year published in 1966. Mike Nichols, Broadway’s sandy-haired boy who turns everything he touches to rollicking comedy and golden receipts, went to Hollywood in 1965 with Midas looking over his shoulder. His purpose: to take Edward

  • Mike’s Murder (film by Bridges [1984])

    James Bridges: …wrote the existential murder mystery Mike’s Murder for his longtime friend Winger, but the studio rejected the cut he delivered in 1982, and the film remained on the shelf until 1984, when a much-edited version was released to critical and commercial failure.

  • Mikeno, Mount (volcano, Democratic Republic of the Congo)

    Mount Mikeno, extinct volcano and, at 14,557 feet (4,437 metres), the second highest peak (after Mount Karisimbi) of the Virunga Mountains. Located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Virunga National Park, it is situated 3.5 miles (5.5 km) northwest of Mount Karisimbi, near the Rwanda

  • Mikey and Nicky (film by May [1976])

    Elaine May: …next wrote, directed, and edited Mikey and Nicky (1976), starring Falk and John Cassavetes as childhood friends with mob ties. In a departure for her, the movie was not a comedy, and it went wildly over schedule. May was said to have hidden reels of the film to prevent the…

  • Mikhail (king of Bulgaria)

    Boris I ; feast day May 2 [May 15]) was the khan of Bulgaria (852–889), whose long reign witnessed the conversion of the Bulgarians to Christianity, the founding of an autocephalous Bulgarian church, and the advent of Slavonic literature and establishment of the first centres of Slav-Bulgarian

  • Mikhail, Hanan (Palestinian educator and diplomat)

    Hanan Ashrawi is a Palestinian educator, legislator, and spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation to the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the early 1990s. Ashrawi was the youngest daughter of a prominent physician who was a founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and she grew up

  • Mikhailovgrad (Bulgaria)

    Montana, town, northwestern Bulgaria. It lies along the Ogosta River in a fertile agricultural region noted for its grains, fruits, vines, market-garden produce, and livestock breeding. Relatively new housing estates as well as industry are evident in the town. In the region are forests and game

  • Mikhailovka (Russia)

    Mikhaylovka, city, Volgograd oblast (region), western Russia, on the Medveditsa River and the main highway between Voronezh and Volgograd. Its main industries are flour milling, canning, and meatpacking. Limestone quarries located near the city are the basis for a number of cement factories. Pop.

  • Mikhailovskii, Nikolai Konstantinovich (Russian literary critic)

    Nikolay Konstantinovich Mikhaylovsky was a Russian literary critic and publicist whose views provided much of the theoretical basis for the Populist (Narodnik) movement. Born into a noble family and trained as a mining engineer, Mikhaylovsky began writing for the press in 1860. From 1868 to 1884 he

  • Mikhailovsky, Nikolay Konstantinovich (Russian literary critic)

    Nikolay Konstantinovich Mikhaylovsky was a Russian literary critic and publicist whose views provided much of the theoretical basis for the Populist (Narodnik) movement. Born into a noble family and trained as a mining engineer, Mikhaylovsky began writing for the press in 1860. From 1868 to 1884 he

  • Mikhalkov, Nikita (Russian actor, director, producer, and writer)
  • Mikhaylov, Khristo (Bulgarian revolutionary)

    Montana: …the town was named after Khristo Mikhaylov, local leader of an unsuccessful communist uprising in 1923. The town was renamed Montana in 1993, after communist rule had ended in Bulgaria. Pop. (2004 est.) 47,414.

  • Mikhaylovgrad (Bulgaria)

    Montana, town, northwestern Bulgaria. It lies along the Ogosta River in a fertile agricultural region noted for its grains, fruits, vines, market-garden produce, and livestock breeding. Relatively new housing estates as well as industry are evident in the town. In the region are forests and game

  • Mikhaylovka (Russia)

    Mikhaylovka, city, Volgograd oblast (region), western Russia, on the Medveditsa River and the main highway between Voronezh and Volgograd. Its main industries are flour milling, canning, and meatpacking. Limestone quarries located near the city are the basis for a number of cement factories. Pop.

  • Mikhaylovsky, Nikolay Konstantinovich (Russian literary critic)

    Nikolay Konstantinovich Mikhaylovsky was a Russian literary critic and publicist whose views provided much of the theoretical basis for the Populist (Narodnik) movement. Born into a noble family and trained as a mining engineer, Mikhaylovsky began writing for the press in 1860. From 1868 to 1884 he

  • Mikhaʾel (archangel)

    Michael, in the Bible and in the Qurʾān (as Mīkāl), one of the archangels. He is repeatedly depicted as the “great captain,” the leader of the heavenly hosts, and the warrior helping the children of Israel. Early in the history of the Christian church he came to be regarded as the helper of the

  • Mīkhāʾīl (archangel)

    Michael, in the Bible and in the Qurʾān (as Mīkāl), one of the archangels. He is repeatedly depicted as the “great captain,” the leader of the heavenly hosts, and the warrior helping the children of Israel. Early in the history of the Christian church he came to be regarded as the helper of the

  • Mikhrot Shelomo ha-Melekh (ancient mine, Israel)

    Timnaʿ: The ancient mines, called Mikhrot Shelomo ha-Melekh (“King Solomon’s Mines”), are at the top of a north-south–trending mesa, about 1,000 feet (305 m) long and more than 425 feet (130 m) wide at its widest point. Scenic columnar rock formations along the mesa’s north wall show traces of the…

  • Miki (Japan)

    Miki, city, Hyōgo ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. It is situated on a narrow plain, about 10 miles (16 km) north of Kōbe and 20 miles (32 km) east of Himeji. The town developed around a castle built by Bessho Naganori in 1468 and captured by the Hideyoshi clan in 1580. Subsequently, the

  • Miki Kiyoshi (Japanese philosopher)

    Miki Kiyoshi was a Marxist philosopher who helped establish the theoretical basis for the noncommunist democratic-socialist movement popular among workers and intellectuals in Japan after World War II. After graduating from Kyōto Imperial University, Miki studied in Germany and then returned to

  • Miki Takeo (prime minister of Japan)

    Miki Takeo was a politician, prime minister of Japan from December 1974 to December 1976. The son of a Shikoku landowner, Miki attended Meiji University in Tokyo, as well as American universities, earned a law degree in 1937, and was elected to the Diet a few months later. He publicly opposed the

  • Miki Tokuchika (Japanese religious leader)

    PL Kyōdan: …in Japan in 1946 by Miki Tokuchika. The movement, unique for the use of English words in its name, is based on the earlier Hito-no-michi sect. It is not affiliated, however, with any of the major religious traditions of Japan. In the late 20th century the group claimed more than…

  • Miki Tokuharu (Japanese religious leader)

    Hito-no-michi: …Japanese religious sect founded by Miki Tokuharu (1871–1938); it was revived in a modified form after World War II as PL Kyōdan (q.v.; from the English words “perfect liberty” and a Japanese term for “church”). Hito-no-michi was a development of an earlier religious movement, Tokumitsu-kyō, named after its founder, Kanada…

  • Mikimoto Kōkichi (Japanese farmer and merchant)

    Mikimoto Kōkichi was a Japanese pearl farmer and merchant who introduced the commercial production of cultured pearls. In 1892, by inserting semiglobular mother-of-pearl beads into pearl oysters, he succeeded in inducing the oysters to form half pearls around the irritating foreign substance.

  • Mikita, Stan (Canadian ice-hockey player)

    Chicago Blackhawks: Renaissance in the 1960s: …Hall of Famers Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Glen Hall, and Pierre Pilote advanced to three Stanley Cup finals and won the franchise’s third title with an underdog win over the Detroit Red Wings to cap off the 1960–61 season. In the 1969–70 season the Black Hawks acquired goaltender Tony Esposito,…

  • Mikkeli (Finland)

    Mikkeli, city, southeastern Finland, northeast of Helsinki. Mikkeli received its town charter in 1838 and became the administrative capital of the province in 1843. It was the site of the Battle of the Porrassalmi Canal (1789), in which the Finns defeated a much larger Russian force. During World

  • Mikkelsen, Ejnar (Danish explorer and author)

    Ejnar Mikkelsen was a Danish polar explorer and author. Mikkelsen went to sea at the age of 14. He was inspired by dreams of polar exploration, and at age 16 he walked the 320 miles (515 km) from Stockholm to Gothenburg in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade S.A. Andrée to take him on the latter’s

  • Mikkelsen, Hans (Scandinavian author)

    Ludvig Holberg, Baron Holberg was the outstanding Scandinavian literary figure of the Enlightenment period, claimed by both Norway and Denmark as one of the founders of their literatures. Orphaned as a child, Holberg lived with relatives in Bergen until the city was destroyed by fire in 1702, when

  • Mikkelsen, Hans (Danish translator)

    biblical literature: Scandinavian versions: …II, by Christiern Vinter and Hans Mikkelsen (Wittenberg, 1524). In 1550 Denmark received a complete Bible commissioned by royal command (the Christian III Bible, Copenhagen). A revision appeared in 1589 (the Frederick II Bible) and another in 1633 (the Christian IV Bible).

  • mikkyō (Buddhism)

    Vajrayana, form of Tantric Buddhism that developed in India and neighbouring countries, notably Tibet. Vajrayana, in the history of Buddhism, marks the transition from Mahayana speculative thought to the enactment of Buddhist ideas in individual life. The term vajra (Sanskrit: “thunderbolt,” or

  • Miklas, Wilhelm (president of Austria)

    Wilhelm Miklas was a statesman who served as president of the first Austrian republic (1928–38). A member of the Christian Social Party, Miklas sat in the Reichsrat (parliament) during the late years of empire (1907–14), and, after 1919, in the Nationalrat (lower house) of the new Austrian

  • Miknasah (people)

    North Africa: The Banū Midrār of Sijilmāssah: …existence after the 740s, when Miknāsah Berbers (a group affiliated with the Ṣufriyyah) migrated from northern Morocco to the oasis of Tafilalt in the south. The principality was named after Abū al-Qāsim ibn Wāsūl, nicknamed Midrār, the Miknāsah chief who founded the town of Sijilmāssah there in 757. Tafilalt had…

  • miko (Shintō attendant)

    religious dress: Japanese religions: The dress of miko (girl attendants at shrines), whose main function is ceremonial dance, also typically consists of a divided skirt and a white kimono. They carry a fan of cypress wood. Young male parishioners bearing a portable shrine through the streets may wear a kimono marked with…

  • Mikołaj I (Polish-Lithuanian noble)

    Radziwiłł family: Prince Mikołaj I (d. 1509) started a long line of Radziwiłł palatines of Wilno (Vilnius) when he was named to that post in 1492; he was chancellor of Lithuania at the same time. His son Mikołaj II (1470–1522) succeeded him in both offices; an advocate of…

  • Mikołaj II (Polish-Lithuanian noble)

    Radziwiłł family: His son Mikołaj II (1470–1522) succeeded him in both offices; an advocate of closer ties between Lithuania and Poland, he was made a prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Maximilian I, who hoped to make him change his policy. Of Mikołaj II’s three brothers, Jerzy (1480–1541)…

  • Mikołaj the Black (Polish-Lithuanian noble)

    Radziwiłł family: Mikołaj the Black (1515–65), son of Jan Mikołaj, was marshal of Lithuania from 1544, chancellor of Lithuania from 1550, and palatine of Wilno from 1551. An opponent of political union with Poland, he became the first of several Radziwiłł Calvinists to promote the Reformation in…

  • Mikołaja Doświadczyńskiego przypadki (work of Krasicki)

    Ignacy Krasicki: …modern novel to Poland with Mikołaja Doświadczyńskiego przypadki (1776; The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom). Influenced by the works of Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it is written in the form of a diary and consists of three sections, the second of which introduces an imaginary island whose…

  • Mikołajczyk, Stanisław (Polish statesman)

    Stanisław Mikołajczyk was a Polish statesman, who tried to establish a democratic, non-Soviet regime in Poland after World War II. Coorganizer and leader of the Peasant Party (1931–39) and a member of the Sejm (Diet), Mikołajczyk fled to London after the German invasion of Poland in 1939. He served

  • Mikołajewski, Daniel (Polish editor)

    biblical literature: Slavic versions: …another revision, primarily executed by Daniel Mikołajewski and Jan Turnowski (the “Danzig Bible”) in 1632, became the official version of all Evangelical churches in Poland. This edition was burned by the Catholics, and it subsequently had to be printed in Germany. The standard Roman Catholic version (1593, 1599) was prepared…

  • Mikon (Greek artist)

    Micon was a Greek painter and sculptor, a contemporary and pupil of Polygnotus, who, with him, was among the first to develop the treatment of space in Greek painting. As a painter Micon is known for the mural painting on the Stoa Poikile (“Painted Portico”) on the Agora at Athens and for the

  • Míkonos (island, Greece)

    Mýkonos, island, dímos (municipality), and perifereiakí enótita (regional unit), South Aegean (Modern Greek: Nótio Aigaío) periféreia (region), southeastern Greece. Mýkonos is one of the smaller of the eastern Cyclades (Kykládes) group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. According to legend, it is

  • Mikoyan, Anastas Ivanovich (Soviet statesman)

    Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan was an Old Bolshevik and highly influential Soviet statesman who dominated the supervision of foreign and domestic trade during the administrations of Joseph Stalin and Nikita S. Khrushchev. Mikoyan abandoned the priesthood to join the Bolshevik Party in 1915 and to become

  • Mikoyan, Artem (Russian aeronautical engineer)

    MiG: …bureau founded in 1939 by Artem Mikoyan (M) and Mikhail Gurevich (G). (The i in MiG is the Russian word meaning “and.”)

  • Mikrokosmos (work by Bartók)

    rhythm: Time: and 58 in Bartók’s Mikrokosmos.

  • Mikrophonie I (work by Stockhausen)

    Karlheinz Stockhausen: In Mikrophonie I (1964), performers produce an enormous variety of sounds on a large gong with the aid of highly amplified microphones and electronic filters.

  • Mikroscopische Beschaffenheit der Mineralien und Gesteine (work by Zirkel)

    Earth sciences: Crystallography and the classification of minerals and rocks: The German geologist Ferdinand Zirkel’s Mikroscopische Beschaffenheit der Mineralien und Gesteine (1873; “The Microscopic Nature of Minerals and Rocks”) contains one of the first mineralogic classifications of rocks and marks the emergence of microscopic petrography as an established branch of science.

  • Mikroskopische Physiographie der petrographische wichtigen Mineralien (work by Rosenbusch)

    Karl Heinrich Ferdinand Rosenbusch: His monumental Mikroskopische Physiographie der petrographisch wichtigen Mineralien (1873; “The Microscopic Physiography of the Petrographically Important Minerals”) outlines the practical means by which rocks can be identified according to the morphological, physical, and chemical properties of their component minerals. He also described new instruments and techniques for…

  • Mikszáth Kálmán (Hungarian author)

    Kálmán Mikszáth was a novelist, regarded by contemporaries and succeeding generations alike as the outstanding Hungarian writer at the turn of the century. He studied law but soon took up journalism. In 1887, already famous, he was elected to the National Assembly. Mikszáth scored his first success

  • Mikszáth, Kálmán (Hungarian author)

    Kálmán Mikszáth was a novelist, regarded by contemporaries and succeeding generations alike as the outstanding Hungarian writer at the turn of the century. He studied law but soon took up journalism. In 1887, already famous, he was elected to the National Assembly. Mikszáth scored his first success

  • Mikulicz-Radecki, Johannes von (Polish surgeon)

    history of medicine: The situation encountered: …and in 1896 Polish surgeon Johannes von Mikulicz-Radecki, working at Breslau, Germany, invented the gauze mask.

  • Mikulski, Barbara (United States senator)

    Barbara Mikulski is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and represented Maryland in that body from 1987 to 2017. She was the first Democratic woman senator not elected as a replacement for her spouse, and in 2011 she surpassed Margaret Chase Smith’s

  • Mikulski, Barbara Ann (United States senator)

    Barbara Mikulski is an American politician who was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and represented Maryland in that body from 1987 to 2017. She was the first Democratic woman senator not elected as a replacement for her spouse, and in 2011 she surpassed Margaret Chase Smith’s

  • mikvah (Judaism)

    mikvah, (“collection [of water]”), in Judaism, a pool of natural water in which one bathes for the restoration of ritual purity. The Mishna (Jewish code of law) describes in elaborate detail the requirements for ritually proper water and for the quantity of water required for ritual cleansing. In

  • mikveh (Judaism)

    mikvah, (“collection [of water]”), in Judaism, a pool of natural water in which one bathes for the restoration of ritual purity. The Mishna (Jewish code of law) describes in elaborate detail the requirements for ritually proper water and for the quantity of water required for ritual cleansing. In