Glossary of Terms

Macao   One of two ports in which Europeans were permitted to trade in China during the Ming dynasty. (p. 679)

MacArthur, General Douglas   American commander in Pacific campaign of World War II; headed American occupation government of Japan after the war; later commanded international forces during Korean War. (p. 917)

Macedon   Kingdom located in northern Greece; originally loosely organized under kings, became centralized under Philip II; served as basis for unification of Greece and later Macedonian Empire. (p. 134)

Machiavelli, Niccolo   [mak EE uh vel EE] Author of The Prince (16th century); emphasized realistic discussions of how to seize and maintain power; one of most influential authors of Italian Renaissance. (p. 524)

Madero, Francisco   Moderate democratic reformer in Mexico; proposed moderate reforms in 1910; arrested by Porfirio Díaz; initiated revolution against Díaz when released from prison; temporarily gained power, but removed and assassinated in 1913. (p. 935)

Magellan, Ferdinand   Spanish captain who in 1519 initiated first circumnavigation of the globe; died during the voyage; allowed Spain to claim Philippines. (p. 546)

Maghrib   [mug ruhb] The Arabic word for western North Africa. (p. 334)

Magna Carta   Great Charter issued by King John of England in 1215; confirmed feudal rights against monarchical claims; represented principle of mutual limits and obligations between rulers and feudal aristocracy. (p. 381)

Mahabharata   [muh hä bär uh tuh] Indian epic; written down in the last centuries b.c.e.; previously handed down in oral form. (pp. 178)

Mahdi Muhammad Achmad   Head of a Sudanic Sufi brotherhood; claimed descent from Prophet; proclaimed both Egyptians and British as infidels; launched revolt to purge Islam of impurities; took Khartoum in 1883. (p. 793)

Mahayana   Chinese version of Buddhism; placed considerable emphasis on Buddha as god or savior. (p. 263)

Mahmud II   Ottoman sultan; built a private, professional army; fomented revolution of Janissaries and crushed them with private army; destroyed power of Janissaries and their religious allies; initiated reform of Ottoman Empire on Western precedents. (p. 786)

Mahmud of Ghazni   Third ruler of dynasty; led invasions of northern India; credited with sacking one of wealthiest of Hindu temples in northern India; gave Muslims reputation for intolerance and aggression. (p. 321)

maize   One of the staple crops of sedentary agriculturists in the Americas; domesticated by 4000 b.c.e. in central Mexico. (p. 201)

Malacca   Portuguese factory or fortified trade town located on the tip of the Malayan peninsula; traditionally a center for trade among the southeastern Asian islands. (p. 326)

Mali   Empire centered between the Senegal and Niger rivers; creation of Malinke peoples; broke away from control of Ghana in 13th century. (p. 336)

Mameluks   Muslim slave warriors; established a dynasty in Egypt; defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260 and halted Mongol advance. (pp. 317, 488)

mana   Power of ali'i; emanated from their lineages and enabled them to extract labor or tribute from their subjects. (p. 246)

Manchus   Jurchen people from region to the northeast of the Chinese empire; seized power following collapse of Ming dynasty; established Qing dynasty, last of imperial houses. (p. 683)

mandalas   Cosmic diagrams of the Hindu natural and spiritual world; Hindu temple complexes during the Gupta Empire were laid out in this fashion. (p. 190)

mandates   Governments entrusted to European nations in the Middle East in the aftermath of World War I; Britain occupied mandates in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine after 1922. (p. 973)

Mandate of Heaven   The divine source for political legitimacy of Chinese rulers; established by Zhou to justify overthrow of Shang. (p. 57)

Mandela, Nelson   Long-imprisoned leader of the African National Congress party; worked with the ANC leadership and F. W. De Klerk's supporters to dismantle the apartheid system from the mid-1980s onward; in 1994, became the first black prime minister of South Africa after the ANC won the first genuinely democratic elections in the country's history. (p. 1015)

manifest destiny   Belief of the government of the United States that it was destined to rule the continent from coast to coast; led to annexation of Texas and Mexican-American War. (p. 767)

manioc   One of staple crops of sedentary agriculturists in the Americas; principal crop of peoples of the lowlands of South America and the islands of the Caribbean. (p. 201)

manorialism   System that described economic and political relations between landlords and their peasant laborers during the Middle Ages; involved a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations that exchanged labor or rents for access to land. (p. 376)

Maoris   Residents of New Zealand; migrated to New Zealand from Society Islands as early as 8th century c.e. (p. 245)

Marius   Successful Roman general during the last century b.c.e.; introduced the concept of using paid volunteers in his army rather than citizen conscripts; created military force with personal loyalties to commander. (p. 156)

Mao Zedong   Communist leader in revolutionary China; advocated rural reform and role of peasantry in Nationalist revolution; influenced by Li Dazhao; led Communist reaction against Guomindang purges in 1920s, culminating in Long March of 1934; seized control of all of mainland China by 1949; initiated Great Leap Forward in 1958. (p. 1026)

Marquis of Pombal   Prime minister of Portugal from 1755 to 1776; acted to strengthen royal authority in Brazil; expelled Jesuits; enacted fiscal reforms and established monopoly companies to stimulate the colonial economy. (p. 605)

Martel, Charles   Carolingian monarch of Franks; responsible for defeating Muslims in battle of Tours in 732; ended Muslim threat to western Europe. (p. 377)

Marshall Plan   Program of substantial loans initiated by the United States in 1947; designed to aid Western nations in rebuilding from the war's devastation; vehicle for American economic dominance. (p. 876)

Marx, Karl   German socialist of the mid-19th century; blasted earlier socialist movements as utopian; saw history as defined by class struggle between groups out of power and those controlling the means of production; preached necessity of social revolution to create proletarian dictatorship. (p. 713)

mask of Ferdinand   Term given to movements in Latin America allegedly loyal to the displaced Bourbon king of Spain, Ferdinand VII; actually Creole movements for independence. (p. 757)

mass leisure culture   An aspect of the later Industrial Revolution; based on newspapers, music halls, popular theater, vacation trips, and team sports. (p. 715)

Mass Line   Economic policy of Mao Zedong; led to formation of agricultural cooperatives in 1955; cooperatives became farming collectives in 1956. (p. 1031)

Mataram   Kingdom that controlled interior regions of Java in 17th century; Dutch East India Company paid tribute to the kingdom for rights of trade at Batavia; weakness of kingdom after 1670s allowed Dutch to exert control over all of Java. (p. 730)

matrilineal   Family descent and inheritance traced through the female line. (p. 15)

matrilocal   A culture in which young men upon marriage go to live with the brides' families. (p.15)

Mauryas   Dynasty established in Indian subcontinent in 4th century b.c.e. following invasion by Alexander the Great. (p. 183)

mawali   Non-Arab converts to Islam. (p. 291)

May Fourth movement   Resistance to Japanese encroachments in China began on this date in 1919; spawned movement of intellectuals aimed at transforming China into a liberal democracy; rejected Confucianism. (p. 1022)

Maya   Classic culture emerging in southern Mexico and Central America contemporary with Teotihuacan; extended over broad region; featured monumental architecture, written language, calendrical and mathematical systems, highly developed religion. (p. 206)

Mecca   City located in mountainous region along Red Sea in Arabian peninsula; founded by Umayyad clan of Quraysh; site of Ka'ba; original home of Muhammad; location of chief religious pilgrimage point in Islam. (p. 281)

Medina   Also known as Yathrib; town located northeast of Mecca; grew date palms whose fruit was sold to bedouins; became refuge for Muhammad following flight from Mecca (hijra). (p. 281)

Mehmed II   [me met] Ottoman sultan called the "Conqueror"; responsible for conquest of Constantinople in 1453; destroyed what remained of Byzantine Empire. (p. 613)

Mencius   Also known as Meng Ko; follower of Confucius; stressed consent of the common people. (p. 104)

Meng Ko   Also known as Mencius; follower of Confucius; stressed consent of the common people. (p. 104)

mercantilism   Economic theory that stressed governments' promotion of limitation of imports from other nations and internal economies in order to improve tax revenues; popular during 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. (p.540)

Mesoamerica   Mexico and Central America; along with Peru, site of development of sedentary agriculture in Western hemisphere. (p. 205)

Mesopotamian   Literally "between the rivers"; the civilizations that arose in the alluvial plain of the Tigris-Euphrates river valleys. (p. 31)

mestizos   People of mixed European and Indian ancestry in Mesoamerica and South America; particularly prevalent in areas colonized by Spain; often part of forced labor system. (p. 552)

Methodius   Along with Cyril, missionary sent by Byzantine government to eastern Europe and the Balkans; converted southern Russia and Balkans to Orthodox Christianity; responsible for creation of written script for Slavic known as Cyrillic. (p. 364)

Metropolitan   Head of the Russian Orthodox church; located at Moscow. (p. 486)

Mexican-American War   Fought between Mexico and the United States from 1846 to 1848; led to devastating defeat of Mexican forces, loss of about one-half of Mexico's national territory to the United States. (p. 757)

Mexican Constitution of 1917   Promised land reform, limited foreign ownership of key resources, guaranteed the rights of workers, and placed restrictions on clerical education; marked formal end of Mexican Revolution. (p. 936)

Mexican Revolution   Fought over a period of almost ten years from 1910; resulted in ouster of Porfirio Díaz from power; opposition forces led by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. (p. 934)

Mexico City   Capital of New Spain; built on ruins of Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. (p. 588)

mfecane   [um fuh ka nAY] Wars of 19th century in southern Africa; created by Zulu expansion under Shaka; revolutionized political organization of southern Africa. (p. 652)

Middle Ages   The period in western European history from the decline and fall of the Roman Empire until the 15th century. (p. 396)

Middle Passage   Slave voyage from Africa to the Americas (16th—18th centuries); generally a traumatic experience for black slaves, although it failed to strip Africans of their culture. (p. 654)

Minas Gerais   [mEE nuhs zhi RIs] Region of Brazil located in mountainous interior where gold strikes were discovered in 1695; became location for gold rush. (p. 599)

Mindanao   Southern island of Philippines; a Muslim kingdom that was able to successfully resist Spanish conquest. (p. 671)

Ming dynasty   Succeeded Mongol Yuan dynasty in China in 1368; lasted until 1644; initially mounted huge trade expeditions to southern Asia and elsewhere, but later concentrated efforts on internal development within China. (p. 494)

Minh Mang   [min mäng] Second emperor of a united Vietnam; successor of Nguyen Anh; ruled from 1820 to 1841; sponsored emphasis of Confucianism; persecuted Catholics. (p. 1038)

Ministry of Rites   Administered examinations to students from Chinese government schools or those recommended by distinguished scholars. (p. 428)

Minoan   A civilization that developed on the island of Crete c. 1600 b.c.e.; capital at the palace complex of Knossos. (p. 48)

miscegenation   [mi sejuh nAY shuhn, misi juh-] Practice of interracial marriage or sexual contact; found in virtually all colonial ventures. (p. 215)

Mississippian culture   Last of the mound-building cultures of North America; flourished between 800 and 1300 c.e.; featured large towns and ceremonial centers; lacked stone architecture of Central America. (p. 212)

mita   Labor extracted for lands assigned to the state and the religion; all communities were expected to contribute; an essential aspect of Inca imperial control. (p. 415)

mitmaq   Inca colonists in new regions; could be Quechua-speakers; used to pacify new conquest or conquered population moved to new home. (p. 415)

moa   Large, wingless birds native to New Zealand; hunted to extinction by early settlers; extinction established need to develop new sources of protein. (p. 248)

Mochica state   Flourished in Andes north of Chavín culture in Moche valley between 200 and 700 c.e.; featured great clay-brick temples; created military chiefdom supported by extensive irrigated agriculture. (p. 218)

Moctezuma II   [mokte sU mä] Last independent Aztec emperor; killed during Hernán Cortés' conquest of Tenochtitlan. (p. 588)

modernization theory   The belief that the more industrialized, urban, and modern a society became, the more social change and improvement were possible as traditional patterns and attitudes were abandoned or transformed; used as a blueprint for development in Latin America. (p. 774)

Mohenjo-daro   Along with Harappa, major urban complex of the Harappan civilization; laid out on planned grid pattern. (p. 52)

moldboard   Heavy plow introduced in northern Europe during the Middle Ages; permitted deeper cultivation of heavier soils; a technological innovation of the medieval agricultural system. (p. 376)

Mongols   Central Asian nomadic peoples; smashed Turko-Persian kingdoms; captured Baghdad in 1258 and killed last Abbasid caliph. (p. 317)

monotheism   The exclusive worship of a single god; introduced by the Jews into Western civilization. (p. 47)

Monroe Doctrine   American declaration stated in 1823; established that any attempt of a European country to colonize in the Americas would be considered an unfriendly act by the United States; supported by Great Britain as a means of opening Latin American trade. (p. 764)

monsoons   Seasonal winds crossing Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia; during summer bring rains. (p. 52)

Montagu-Chelmsford reforms   Increased the powers of Indian legislators at the all-India level and placed much of the provincial administration of India under local ministries controlled by legislative bodies with substantial numbers of elected Indians; passed in 1919. (p. 971)

montaña   Located on eastern slopes of Andes mountains; location of cultivation and gathering of tropical fruits and coca leaf. (p. 216)

Monte Alban   Chief center of Zapotec culture in southern Mexico during preclassic period; contemporary with Olmec culture; based on irrigated agriculture, calendrical, and writing systems. (p. 206)

Morley-Minto reforms of 1909   Provided educated Indians with considerably expanded opportunities to elect and serve on local and all-Indian legislative councils. (p. 966)

Mu'awiya   [mU ä wEE ä] Leader of Umayyad clan; first Umayya[[adot]]d caliph following civil war with Ali. (p. 290)

Mughal Empire   Established by Babur in India in 1526; the name is taken from the supposed Mongol descent of Babur, but there is little indication of any Mongol influence in the dynasty; became weak after rule of Aurangzeb in first decades of 18th century. (p. 609)

Muhammad   Prophet of Islam; born c. 570 to Banu Hashim clan of Quraysh tribe in Mecca; raised by father's family; received revelations from Allah in 610 c.e. and thereafter; died in 632. (p. 277)

Muhammad ibn Qasim   Arab general; conquered Sind in India; declared the region and the Indus valley to be part of Umayyad Empire. (p. 320)

Muhammad of Ghur   Military commander of Persian extraction who ruled small mountain kingdom in Afghanistan; began process of conquest to establish Muslim political control of northern India; brought much of Indus valley, Sind, and northwestern India under his control. (p. 322)

Muhammad Shah II   Turkic ruler of Muslim Khwarazm kingdom; attempted to resist Mongol conquest; conquered in 1220. (p. 482)

Muhammad the Great   Extended the boundaries of the Songhay Empire; Islamic ruler of the mid-16th century. (p. 340)

Mullahs   Local mosque officials and prayer leaders within the Safavid Empire; agents of Safavid religious campaign to convert all of population to Shi'ism. (p. 624)

Multinational corporations   Powerful companies, mainly from the West or Pacific Rim, with production as well as distribution operations in many different countries. Multinationals surged in the decades after World War II. (p. 1055)

mummification   The act of preserving the bodies of the dead; practiced in Egypt to preserve the body for enjoyment of the afterlife. (p. 41)

Munich Conference   Meeting concerning Germany's occupation of portions of Czechoslovakia in 1938; after receiving Hitler's assurances that he would take no more land, Western leaders agreed to the division of Czechoslovakia. (p. 852)

Murad   Head of the coalition of Mamluk households in Egypt; opposed Napoleonic invasion of Egypt and suffered devastating defeat; failure destroyed Mamluk government in Egypt and revealed vulnerability of Muslim core. (p. 789)

Muslims   Followers of Islam. (p. 277)

Muslim Brotherhood   Egyptian nationalist movement founded by Hasan al-Banna in 1928; committed to fundamentalist movement in Islam; fostered strikes and urban riots against the khedival government. (p. 1008)

Muslim League   Founded in 1906 to better support demands of Muslims for separate electorates and legislative seats in Hindu-dominated India; represented division within Indian nationalist movement. (p. 972)

Mussolini, Benito   Italian Fascist leader after World War I; created first fascist government based on aggressive foreign policy and new nationalist glories. (p. 851)

Mvemba, Nzinga   King of Kongo south of Zaire River from 1507 to 1543; converted to Christianity and took title of Alfonso I; under Portuguese influence attempted to Christianize all of kingdom. (p. 639)

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