Mississippi River: Hydrology: …recorded history of the lower Mississippi valley. More than 23,000 square miles (59,600 square km) of land flooded. Communications, including roads and rail and telephone services, were cut in many places. Farms, factories, and whole towns went temporarily underwater. An immense amount of property was damaged, and at least 250…

Mississippi Valley Campaign, the campaigns and battles of the American Civil War that were fought for control of the Mississippi River. Western waterways were major arteries of communication and commerce for the South, as well as a vital link to the Confederate states of Louisiana and Texas. Early

New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), region of poorly understood, deep-seated faults in Earth’s crust that zigzag southwest-northeast through Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky, U.S. Lying in the central area of the North American Plate, the seismic zone is about 45 miles (70 km) wide and about

Mississippi: Education: …in 1878), in Starkville; and Mississippi Valley State University (opened in 1950), the state’s third HBU, in Itta Bena.

mineral deposit: Mississippi Valley type: The central plains of North America, running from the Appalachian Mountains on the east to the Rocky Mountains on the west, are underlain by nearly flat sedimentary rocks that were laid down on a now-covered basement of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The…

Army of Tennessee, primary Confederate army of the Western Theatre during the American Civil War (1861–65). Although the army fought in numerous engagements, it won few victories. In addition to facing some of the Union’s most capable generals, the army was plagued by problems of command, supply,

Part of what is today the state of Mississippi was included in the West Florida Republic, which was proclaimed in 1810 by American settlers in opposition to Spanish rule. Their flag had a blue background with a single white star in the centre. (A similar design was used in the 1830s by

University of Mississippi, public, coeducational institution of higher learning based in Oxford, Mississippi, U.S., with its Medical Center in Jackson and regional campuses at Tupelo and Southaven. Academically divided into one college and eight schools (including the Medical Center), it offers

Mississippian culture, the last major prehistoric cultural development in North America, lasting from about 700 ce to the time of the arrival of the first European explorers. It spread over a great area of the Southeast and the mid-continent, in the river valleys of what are now the states of

Mississippian Subperiod, first major subdivision of the Carboniferous Period, lasting from 358.9 to 323.2 million years ago. The Mississippian is characterized by shallow-water limestone deposits occupying the interiors of continents, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. These limestones exhibit

geochronology: Completion of the Phanerozoic time scale: … in 1839, was subsequently termed Mississippian in 1870 as a result of work conducted by another American geologist, Alexander Winchell, in the upper Mississippi valley area. Eventually the overlying strata, the coal-bearing rocks originally described from Pennsylvania, were formalized as Pennsylvanian in 1891 by the paleontologist and stratigrapher Henry Shaler…

West Memphis Three: ), and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. (b. July 10, 1975).

Aléxandros Mavrokordátos: …of a regional government at Missolonghi, in western Greece. During December 1821–January 1822 he presided over the first National Assembly, at Epidaurus, and led in the drafting of a constitution.

Missoula, city, seat (1866) of Missoula county, western Montana, U.S. It is situated on Clark Fork of the Columbia River, at the mouth of the Bitterroot River, near the Bitterroot Range in a broad valley (elevation 3,223 feet [982 metres]). The first white settler in the area was Father Pierre-Jean

Pacific mountain system: Physiography: …ago, a large lake (Lake Missoula) was impounded by an ice dam in western Montana. On several occasions the dam gave way and released enormous quantities of water, which then rapidly drained to the sea. Those floods deepened and widened the existing Columbia River valley and were largely responsible…

Jon Krakauer: Subsequent writing career: Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (2015) examined the handling of sexual assault cases linked to the University of Montana, exposing failures within both higher education institutions and the criminal justice system. In 2018 Krakauer returned to his outdoor roots with…

Missouri, constituent state of the United States of America. To the north lies Iowa; across the Mississippi River to the east, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee; to the south, Arkansas; and to the west, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. With the exception of Tennessee, Missouri has more neighboring

Missouri, American battleship, scene of the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, that formally ended World War II. The USS Missouri, one of four Iowa-class battleships that were completed during the war, numbered among the largest warships afloat, being 887 feet (270 metres) long and displacing

Missouri, North American Indian people of the Chiwere branch of the Siouan language family. In their historic past the Missouri people, together with the Iowa and the Oto, separated from the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and moved southwest. The Missouri tribe settled at the confluence of the Grand and

Missouri Botanical Garden, botanical garden and research center in St. Louis, Missouri. Privately administered, the garden was established in 1859 by British-born entrepreneur Henry Shaw. It is spread across 79 acres (32 hectares) and is home to more than 51,000 plants. It is most notable for its

Arthur Penn: Films and plays of the 1970s: …returned to film work with The Missouri Breaks (1976), a controversial, eccentric, big-budget western with a screenplay by novelist Thomas McGuane and starring Brando as a hired killer toying with a gang of rustlers whose former leader was played by Jack Nicholson. In 1977 Penn directed Bancroft’s portrayal of Israeli…

Missouri Compromise, (1820), in U.S. history, measure worked out between the North and the South and passed by the U.S. Congress that allowed for admission of Missouri as the 24th state (1821). It marked the beginning of the prolonged sectional conflict over the extension of slavery that led to the

Missouri fox-trotting horse, breed of horse that originated in Missouri and the Ozark Mountains region and is characterized by the “fox trot” gait, a broken gait that occurs when the horse walks briskly with the front feet while trotting with the back feet. Developed from light horses taken to the

Missouri fox-trotting horse, breed of horse that originated in Missouri and the Ozark Mountains region and is characterized by the “fox trot” gait, a broken gait that occurs when the horse walks briskly with the front feet while trotting with the back feet. Developed from light horses taken to the

Missouri fox-trotting horse, breed of horse that originated in Missouri and the Ozark Mountains region and is characterized by the “fox trot” gait, a broken gait that occurs when the horse walks briskly with the front feet while trotting with the back feet. Developed from light horses taken to the

calabazilla, (Cucurbita foetidissima), perennial prostrate vine of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to southwestern North America. Although calabazilla is a fairly unattractive plant with a fetid odour, it is sometimes grown as an ornamental in arid and semiarid areas for its colourful

Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, former American railroad founded to build the first rail line west of the Mississippi River. Ground was broken in 1851 and the first section of track completed in 1852. It was the first railroad to serve Kansas City, Missouri, reached in 1865, after construction

Missouri Plan, method of selecting judges that originated in the state of Missouri and subsequently was adopted by other U.S. jurisdictions. It involves the creation of a nominating commission that screens judicial candidates and submits to the appointing authority (such as the governor) a limited

Missouri: Media and publishing: The Missouri Press Association, founded in 1867, has played an important role in the development of the press in the United States. It was responsible for establishing the country’s first school of journalism, at the University of Missouri, and for founding the State Historical Society of…

Missouri River, longest tributary of the Mississippi River and second longest river in North America. It is formed by the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin rivers in the Rocky Mountains area of southwestern Montana (Gallatin county), U.S., about 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) above sea

the Rockettes, world-famous American precision dance team that is especially known for its annual Christmas Spectacular. They are the signature act of the Radio City Music Hall within Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, New York City. The origins of the Rockettes can be traced to 1925, when

University of Missouri: …Mines and Metallurgy (now called Missouri University of Science and Technology), one of the first technological institutions in the United States; it was incorporated into the state university system in 1964. The campus at Kansas City was originally opened in 1933 as the privately owned University of Kansas City; it…

Missouri State University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning based in Springfield, Mo., U.S. It has one of the largest undergraduate enrollments in the state. Missouri State offers about 15 undergraduate degrees in more than 110 academic programs and 13 graduate degrees in about

Missouri State University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning based in Springfield, Mo., U.S. It has one of the largest undergraduate enrollments in the state. Missouri State offers about 15 undergraduate degrees in more than 110 academic programs and 13 graduate degrees in about

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, conservative Lutheran church in the United States, organized in Chicago in 1847 by German immigrants from Saxony (settled in Missouri) and Bavaria (settled in Michigan and Indiana) as the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. C.F.W.

University of Missouri: …Mines and Metallurgy (now called Missouri University of Science and Technology), one of the first technological institutions in the United States; it was incorporated into the state university system in 1964. The campus at Kansas City was originally opened in 1933 as the privately owned University of Kansas City; it…

Big 12 Conference: …had been members of the Missouri Valley Conference (formed in 1907) but split in 1928 to form the Big 6 Conference. It became the Big 7 when the University of Colorado joined the conference in 1948 and the Big 8 when Oklahoma State was added in 1959. The conference expanded…

The state seal of Missouri, which incorporates the coat of arms, was adopted on January 11, 1822. The coat of arms is encircled by a belt with the inscription “United we stand, divided we fall” and is divided vertically, with the coat of arms of the United States on one side and a crescent and bear

Hidatsa, North American Indians of the Plains who once lived in semipermanent villages on the upper Missouri River between the Heart and the Little Missouri rivers in what is now North Dakota. The Hidatsa language is a member of the Siouan language family. Until the reservation period began in the

University of Missouri, state university system of Missouri, U.S., comprising four coeducational campuses as well as an outreach and extension program. It is a land-grant university and one of the largest academic and research institutions in the United States—with some 550 degree programs, a total

dice: Cheating with dice: Loaded dice (called tappers, missouts, passers, floppers, cappers, or spot loaders, depending on how and where extra weight has been applied) may prove to be perfect cubes when measured with calipers, but extra weight just below the surface on some sides will make the opposite…

insurance: Other provisions: …policy was taken out, the misstatement-of-age clause provides that the amount payable is the amount of insurance that would have been purchased for the premium had the correct age been stated. Many life insurance policies, known as participating policies, return dividends to the insured. The dividends, which may amount to…

missus dominicus, officials sent by some Frankish kings and emperors to supervise provincial administration. Used sporadically by Merovingian and early Carolingian rulers, the missi became a normal part of the administrative machinery under Charlemagne (reigned 768–814). From about 802 onward

mist, suspension in the atmosphere of very tiny water droplets (50–500 microns in diameter) or wet hygroscopic particles that reduces horizontal visibility to 1 km (0.6 mile) or more; if the visibility is reduced below 1 km, the suspension is called a fog. Mist appears to cover the landscape with a

industrial glass: Strength and fracturing: …have a fine fibrous or misty texture, called the mist. Surrounding the mist are wider and deeper radial ridges, with slivers of glass lifted out. Known as the hackle, these ridges ultimately lead to crack branching. Fracture travels faster in a region that is under tensile stress than in a…

Marcia Gay Harden: … (2007), and the horror movie The Mist (2007). She also appeared in film adaptations (2015, 2017, and 2018) of the Fifty Shades series of erotic novels by E.L. James.

criminal law: Ignorance and mistake: In most countries the law recognizes that a person who acts in ignorance of the facts of his action should not be held criminally responsible. Thus, one who takes and carries away the goods of another person, believing them to be his own, does…

Nayantara Sahgal: …later novels—Plans for Departure (1985), Mistaken Identity (1988), and Lesser Breeds (2003)—are set in colonial India. When the Moon Shines by Day (2017) is a dystopian satire. In The Fate of Butterflies (2019), Sahgal focused on several people living under a repressive regime. She also wrote Day of Reckoning: Stories…

Mistassini Lake, largest lake in Quebec province, Canada. It is located in Nord-du-Québec region in west-central Quebec and forms the headwaters of the Rupert River, which drains into James Bay. Bisected by a chain of islands, the lake is about 100 miles (160 km) long, 12 miles (19 km) wide, and

Delbert Mann: Feature films: …at an Antarctic compound, and Mister Buddwing (1966) was a pallid drama about an amnesia victim (James Garner) trying to learn about his past life. The lacklustre comedy Fitzwilly (1967) centers on a butler (Dick Van Dyke) who plans to rob a department store on Christmas Eve—for a good cause.

Blake Edwards: Early life and work: …as a film director included Mister Cory (1957), with Tony Curtis, and the romantic comedy This Happy Feeling (1958).

Sharon Tate: Career: …on the series Petticoat Junction, Mr. Ed, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Delphine Seyrig: …garish beauty in the satire Mister Freedom (1968), as a lesbian vampire in Les Lèvres rouges (1971; Daughters of Darkness), and in Luis Buñuel’s Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie (1972; The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie).

Laurie Anderson: … (1981), Big Science (1982), and Mister Heartbreak (1984) before producing a massive four-part multimedia extravaganza, United States I–IV. It combined music, photography, film, drawings, and animation with text and consisted of 78 segments organized into four sections: Transportation, Politics, Money, and Love. First performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music…

animation: Animation in Europe: …Hubley created the nearsighted character Mister Magoo for the 1949 short Ragtime Bear. He and his wife, Faith, formed their own studio, Storyboard Productions, in 1955, and they collaborated on a series of increasingly poetic narrative films. They won Oscars for Moonbird (1959) and The Hole (1962). The Hubleys also…

Mister Roberts, American comedy film, released in 1955, featuring acclaimed performances by Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, William Powell, and James Cagney. Mister Roberts traces the misadventures of the frustrated crew of the USS Reluctant, a cargo ship operating in the Pacific Ocean during World War

Fred Rogers was an American television host, producer, minister, and writer best known for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968–2001), an educational children’s show that aired on public television. Following graduation (1951) from Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, with a degree in musical

George A. Romero: …Romero filmed short segments for Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, a popular children’s television series produced in Pittsburgh. In 1968 Romero and several friends pooled their money to finance Romero’s first feature, the low-budget zombie film Night of the Living Dead. The movie was not a commercial success at the time of…

E.L. James: In 2019 James published The Mister, about a British aristocrat who falls in love with an undocumented Albanian immigrant who becomes his house cleaner after escaping sex traffickers. She continued the story in The Missus, published in 2023.

mystery religion: Painting: …superb Dionysiac frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries (Villa dei Misteri) at Pompeii show the initiation of a girl into the Bacchic Mysteries: in one fresco she is lifting the cover of a sacred casket; in a second scene three followers of Dionysus are practicing lecanomancy (divination by the…

Vladimir Mayakovsky: …Misteriya buff (first performed 1921; Mystery Bouffe), a drama representing a universal flood and the subsequent joyful triumph of the “Unclean” (the proletarians) over the “Clean” (the bourgeoisie).

Dario Fo: …his solo tour de force Mistero Buffo (1973; “Comic Mystery”), based on medieval mystery plays but so topical that the shows changed with each audience.

George A. Romero: …Romero filmed short segments for Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, a popular children’s television series produced in Pittsburgh. In 1968 Romero and several friends pooled their money to finance Romero’s first feature, the low-budget zombie film Night of the Living Dead. The movie was not a commercial success at the time of…

George A. Romero: …Romero filmed short segments for Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, a popular children’s television series produced in Pittsburgh. In 1968 Romero and several friends pooled their money to finance Romero’s first feature, the low-budget zombie film Night of the Living Dead. The movie was not a commercial success at the time of…

Misti Volcano, volcano of the Andes mountains of southern Peru. It is flanked by Chachani and Pichupichu volcanoes and rises to 19,098 feet (5,821 meters) above sea level, towering over the city of Arequipa. Its perfect, snowcapped cone is thought to have had religious significance for the Incas

Misti Volcano, volcano of the Andes mountains of southern Peru. It is flanked by Chachani and Pichupichu volcanoes and rises to 19,098 feet (5,821 meters) above sea level, towering over the city of Arequipa. Its perfect, snowcapped cone is thought to have had religious significance for the Incas

Pequot: …and Narragansett warriors in an attack on the main fortified Pequot village on the site of modern-day Mystic, Connecticut. The Pequot were surprised but quickly mounted a spirited defense that almost led to an English defeat. Realizing that he could not defeat the Pequot in the close quarters of the…

Mistinguett was a popular French comedienne noted especially for her beautiful legs and stage personality. The name Mistinguett (Miss Tinguett), derived from a song in a musical show, Miss Helyett, was suggested by her allegedly English-looking, protruding front teeth. Her greatest fame was

mistletoe, any of many species of parasitic plants, several of which are associated with Christmas for their green foliage and attractive fruits. Mistletoes are found in the families Loranthaceae, Misodendraceae, and Santalaceae, the latter containing the well-known members in the genera Viscum,

Rhipsalis: The mistletoe cactus, Rhipsalis baccifera, is the only Old World representative of the cactus family. Given that the plant is also found in the Americas, its unusual distribution has long puzzled scientists. Theories proposed to account for this curious distribution include: (1) dispersal of the genus…

François Truffaut: Early works: …short piece Les Mistons (1958; The Mischief Makers), depicted a gang of boys who thoughtlessly persecute two young lovers. It met with sufficient appreciation to facilitate his first feature-length film, Les Quatre Cents Coups. An evocation of the adolescent’s pursuit of independence from a staid adult world of conformity and…

Despotate of Morea: Mistra, near the site of ancient Sparta, was the residence of the despots. Their tombs were located there, and an important cultural centre grew up within the castle walls. Educated Greeks, scholars, and artists flocked there in the 14th century.

mistral, cold and dry strong wind in southern France that blows down from the north along the lower Rhône River valley toward the Mediterranean Sea. It may blow continuously for several days at a time, with velocities that average about 74 km (about 45 miles) per hour, and reach to a height of 2 to

Canadian literature: Contemporary trends: … (La Rage [1989; “Rabies”]) and Christian Mistral (Vamp [1988]) began in the late 1980s to focus literary attention on the social concerns of their age.

Frédéric Mistral was a poet who led the 19th-century revival of Occitan (Provençal) language and literature. He shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904 (with José Echegaray y Eizaguirre) for his contributions in literature and philology. Mistral’s father was a well-to-do farmer in the former

Gabriela Mistral was a Chilean poet, who in 1945 became the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Of Spanish, Basque, and Indian descent, Mistral grew up in a village of northern Chile and became a schoolteacher at age 15, advancing later to the rank of college professor.

Noah Baumbach: Film career: …teamed up again to write Mistress America (2015), with Baumbach as director and Gerwig in a strong supporting role.

A.M. Homes: …and father in the memoir The Mistress’s Daughter (2007). Los Angeles: People, Places, and the Castle on the Hill (2002), commissioned by the National Geographic Society, is a meditation on the titular city. She also wrote several episodes of the cable television series The L Word and regularly contributed to…

Abraham Cowley: In The Mistress (1647, 1656) he exaggerated John Donne’s “metaphysical wit”—jarring the reader’s sensibilities by unexpectedly comparing quite different things—into what later tastes felt was fanciful poetic nonsense. His Pindarique Odes (1656) try to reproduce the Latin poet’s enthusiastic manner through lines of uneven length and…

mistrial, in law, a trial that has been terminated and declared void before the tribunal can hand down a decision or render a verdict. The termination of a trial prematurely nullifies the preceding proceedings as if they had not taken place. Therefore, should another trial on the same charges, with

Cyrus Mistry was an Indian businessman, scion of a wealthy business family in Mumbai, who served as chairman (2012–16) of the gigantic Tata Group conglomerate. Cyrus Mistry was the younger son of Pallonji Mistry, head of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a diversified conglomerate that had begun with a

Cyrus Mistry was an Indian businessman, scion of a wealthy business family in Mumbai, who served as chairman (2012–16) of the gigantic Tata Group conglomerate. Cyrus Mistry was the younger son of Pallonji Mistry, head of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a diversified conglomerate that had begun with a

Cyrus Mistry: …was the younger son of Pallonji Mistry, head of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a diversified conglomerate that had begun with a construction company started by Pallonji Mistry’s grandfather in the 19th century. The Mistrys were members of Mumbai’s Parsi community, followers of the Zoroastrian religion who had grown prosperous as…

Rohinton Mistry is an Indian-born Canadian writer whose works—in turns poignant, stark, and humorous—explore the everyday lives of Indian Parsis (descendants of Persian Zoroastrians). Like many of the characters in his stories, Mistry was of Parsi origin. He obtained a degree in mathematics and

Erroll Garner: His best-known composition is “Misty.”

Marguerite Henry: Misty of Chincoteague (1947) became one of the most popular children’s books of all time. It is a fact-based story about two children on an island off the coast of Virginia who raise money to buy a wild horse and her filly. In 1948 the…

Moro National Liberation Front: …the leader of the MNLF, Nur Misuari, quickly arranged for a cease-fire, and in January 1987 the MNLF agreed to drop its demand for an independent state in return for regional autonomy. However, the MILF refused to accept the agreement, and discussions between the government and opposition groups broke down.…

Mesoamerican Indian languages: The classification and status of Mesoamerican languages:

crab spider: Misumena vatia, found on flowers, is white or yellow with a red stripe on the side of the abdomen. Over a period of several days it can change color to match that of the flower on which it rests.

Misurata, town, northwestern Libya. It is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a band of sand dunes and occupies a coastal oasis above an underground water table. The town originated about the 7th century as a caravan supply center. By the 12th century, as Thubactis, it was engaged in

drug use: National controls: In 1971 the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA), which has been amended multiple times but remains the country’s primary means of drug control, replaced the Dangerous Drug Act of 1965, which itself had replaced earlier legislation stemming from the 1912 Hague Convention. Similar to the CSA in the…

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), privately controlled coeducational institution of higher learning famous for its scientific and technological training and research. It was chartered by the state of Massachusetts in 1861 and became a land-grant college in 1863. William Barton Rogers,

Pius XII: Early life and career: …helped draft the anti-Nazi encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (“With Deep Anxiety”), written partly in response to the Nürnberg Laws and addressed to the German church on March 14, 1937. In it the papacy condemns racial theories and the mistreatment of people because of their race or nationality but does not…

Pattie Maes: …began teaching at the school’s Media Laboratory in 1991.

radar: Advances during World War II: …undertaken by the newly formed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Radiation Laboratory at Cambridge. It was the magnetron that made microwave radar a reality in World War II.

repartimiento, in colonial Spanish America, a system by which the crown allowed certain colonists to recruit indigenous peoples for forced labour. The repartimiento system, frequently called the mita in Peru and the cuatequil (a Spanish-language corruption of Nahuatl coatequitl or cohuatequitl) in

Ecuador: Services: …mountain, and Ecuador’s most-visited landmark, Mitad del Mundo (“Middle of the Earth”), a monument and museum at the Equator, has undergone many renovations. Cities such as Baños and Puyo provide entry for excursions into the Amazon rainforest and offer opportunities for outdoor adventuring.

Mitaka, city, Tokyo to (metropolis), Honshu, Japan. It lies on the western border of Tokyo city, just south of Musashino. Mitaka developed from settlements in the rice paddies of the Musashino plateau during the Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867). It served as a hawking field, and its name is

tama, in Japanese religion, a soul or a divine or semidivine spirit; also an aspect of a spirit. Several mitama are recognized in Shintō and folk religions. Among them are the ara-mitama (with the power of ruling), the kushi-mitama (with the power of transforming), the nigi-mitama (with the power

shintai, (Japanese: “god-body”), in the Shintō religion of Japan, manifestation of the deity (kami), its symbol, or an object of worship in which it resides; also referred to as mitama-shiro (“the material object in which the divine soul resides”). The shintai may be a natural object in which the